Faculty
Geography
Supervisor Name
Dr. Isaac Luginaah
Keywords
food waste, compost, emissions
Description
Food waste is an everyday activity in many developed countries; however, the risks from emissions are either not acknowledged or poorly regulated in many food waste plants worldwide. The literature lacks a systematic review that gives a thorough overview of the effects of food waste emissions on human health, directly affecting physiology and indirectly affecting human health through environmental health effects. The aim of this study is to address this gap to support decision-makers in public health when inspecting food waste facilities and the surrounding areas. To inform this systematic review, the four databases, Web of Science, OVID, EMBASE, and Scopus, were searched from inception to 24 November 2021. Pairs of reviewers screened 1020 potentially eligible studies that addressed food waste emissions from consumers and how the emissions related to human health. Fifteen articles were eligible for data extraction for the systematic review. Findings indicate that food waste emissions, such as hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, and volatile organic carbons, can alter human endocrine, respiratory, nervous, and olfactory systems. The severity of the human health effects depends on the gaseous concentration. The study proposes emission capture technologies, food diversion programs, and biogas technologies to reduce food waste emissions. The main contribution of this review is an inventory of food waste emissions and their associated impacts on human health.
Acknowledgements
This thesis was created in collaboration with PhD Candidate Evans Batung and Dr. Isaac Luginaah. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Isaac Luginaah for his continuous support and guidance. I would like to thank Evans for his contributions throughout the project, including title and abstract screening, full-text screening, critical appraisals, editing, and reference list screening. Lastly, I would like to thank Dr. Paulina Kowalewska for editing my final draft.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Document Type
Paper
Supplementary Data Set B.xlsx (12 kB)
Supplementary Data Set C.xlsx (12 kB)
Supplementary Data Set D.xlsx (15 kB)
Included in
The effects of gases from food waste on human health: A systematic review
Food waste is an everyday activity in many developed countries; however, the risks from emissions are either not acknowledged or poorly regulated in many food waste plants worldwide. The literature lacks a systematic review that gives a thorough overview of the effects of food waste emissions on human health, directly affecting physiology and indirectly affecting human health through environmental health effects. The aim of this study is to address this gap to support decision-makers in public health when inspecting food waste facilities and the surrounding areas. To inform this systematic review, the four databases, Web of Science, OVID, EMBASE, and Scopus, were searched from inception to 24 November 2021. Pairs of reviewers screened 1020 potentially eligible studies that addressed food waste emissions from consumers and how the emissions related to human health. Fifteen articles were eligible for data extraction for the systematic review. Findings indicate that food waste emissions, such as hydrogen sulphide, ammonia, and volatile organic carbons, can alter human endocrine, respiratory, nervous, and olfactory systems. The severity of the human health effects depends on the gaseous concentration. The study proposes emission capture technologies, food diversion programs, and biogas technologies to reduce food waste emissions. The main contribution of this review is an inventory of food waste emissions and their associated impacts on human health.
Comments
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