Solid Waste Generation in a Food and Nutrition Unit Over Five Days

A five-day study quantified solid waste generation at a Food and Nutrition Unit inside an automobile parts factory in Taubaté, SP, Brazil. The research, by Mariana Gardin Alves, classified waste from inventory, storage, processing, distribution, and returns. To serve 2,740 meals, 486.6 kg of waste was generated, averaging 0.177 kg per capita per day.

Use Cases

• Modeling per capita waste generation based on meal count and waste composition data.
• Analyzing the distribution of waste across processing, returns, and storage stages.
• Assessing the potential for composting and recycling based on reported organic and inorganic waste percentages.
• Developing action plans for waste reduction based on the three R's principle mentioned in the study.

Strengths

• Provides specific quantitative results, including 486.6 kg of total waste from 2,740 meals.
• Breaks down waste by source: 58.0% from food processing, 31.9% from returns, and 10.1% from stock and storage.
• Details waste composition: 85% organic compounds and 15% paper/cardboard, plastics, and cans.
• Specifies final destinations: 100% of food waste for composting, 80% of other waste for recycling, and 20% to landfill.

Limitations

• Row count and column-level documentation are absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is from a single, specific location and short time frame, which may limit generalizability.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

Mariana Gardin Alves via paperswithcode

Collection Method

Waste was classified and quantified over five days at a specific Food and Nutrition Unit.

Time Range

Study conducted over five days (specific dates unknown).

Geography

Taubaté, SP, Brazil (inside an automobile parts manufacturing shop).