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ItemAssessment of Food Waste Management Options in Dehiowita, Sri Lanka( 2023)Food waste management is one of the major concerns in Sri Lanka due to numerous social and environmental consequences resulting from open waste dumping. National waste policies have facilitated food waste diversion from landfills using different treatment methods. This study reviewed the food waste composition, characteristics, and potential household food waste management methods for Dehiowita, Sri Lanka. A simplified lifecycle assessment method, the MECO matrix, and economic assessment were used to evaluate the environmental impacts and economic feasibility of open dumping, windrow composting, sanitary landfilling, anaerobic digestion, and home composting. The food waste composition from 49% to 69% in Sri Lanka offers good fertilizer and energy production potential. Food waste chemical characteristics attributed both positive and negative impacts to each treatment method. Food waste open dumping showed the highest environmental impacts due to liquid and gaseous emissions and chemical usage. Open dumping, sanitary landfilling, windrow composting, and anaerobic digestion with 1 kg of food waste resulted in 763.74 gCO2eq, 1064.25 gCO2eq,145.02 gCO2eq and 26.87 gCO2eq GHG emissions respectively. Home composting resulted in negative emissions (-17 gCO2eq) with offsets from chemical fertilizer reduction. Sanitary landfilling and open dumping were identified as economically and environmentally unsuitable options for food waste management in Sri Lanka due to high initial investment with no return on revenue and high GHG emissions. Windrow composting, Anaerobic digestion and home composting result in a cost-benefit ratio of 0.88, 18.78 and 2.9, respectively and 1.02, 20.41,3.08, considering CO2 offsets. However, the economic feasibility of anaerobic digestion depends on organic fertilizer production from liquid digestate. And the composting capacity determines the profitability of windrow composting. In conclusion, anaerobic digestion and windrow composting are economically and environmentally feasible options for Dehiowita LA to treat collected waste, while home composting, as a carbon-neutral method, can be used domestically. Finally, these findings provide valuable information for developing future household waste management policies in Sri Lanka.