Mapping the Sustainability of Waste-to-Energy Processes for Food Loss and Waste in Mexico—Part 1: Energy Feasibility Study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Mexico generated 8.9 Mt of food loss and waste (FLW) at food distribution and retail centers in the year 2022. Traditional management methods in Latin America primarily involve final disposal sites, contributing to national greenhouse gas emissions of 0.22 Mt CO2 eq y−1. This creates an urgent need for sustainable valorization strategies for FLW to mitigate environmental impacts. This comprehensive study analyzes the geographical distribution of FLW generation and proposes a valorization approach using WtE-AD plants. Geographic information systems were employed for geographical analysis, life cycle assessment was used for environmental evaluation, and circular economy business models were applied for sustainability assessment. The primary objective of this first part of the contribution is to evaluate the technical feasibility of implementing waste-to-energy anaerobic digestion (WtE-AD) plants for FLW management in Mexico considering their geographical locations. The results demonstrate that WtE-AD plants with treatment capacities exceeding 8 t d−1 can achieve positive energy balances and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Specific findings indicate that these plants are viable for large-scale implementation, with larger plants showing resilience to increased transport distances while maintaining energy efficiency. The results highlight the critical influence of methane yields and transport distances on plant energy performance. This study underscores the importance of strategically placing and scaling WtE-AD plants to optimize resource efficiency and environmental sustainability. These findings provide essential insights for policymakers and stakeholders advocating for the transition of Mexico’s food supply chain toward a circular economy. Future parts of this study will explore detailed economic analyses and the policy frameworks necessary for the large-scale implementation of WtE-AD plants in Mexico. Further research should continue to develop innovative strategies to enhance the techno-economic and environmental performance of WtE-AD processes, ensuring sustainable FLW management and energy recovery.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".