Evaluación del Impacto Ambiental del Compostaje de Residuos Orgánicos Urbanos Usando ACV Recipe e Incertidumbre Estocástica

This study evaluates the composition, environmental performance, and statistical variability of urban biowaste in Bogotá through an integrated approach combining physicochemical characterization, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and uncertainty analysis. Three representative samples were analyzed, showing a predominance of raw food residues (48.5%), followed by cooked food waste (17.7%), pruning residues (12.3%), fruit and egg shells (10%), coffee/tea grounds (4.2%), and other biodegradable materials (7.3%). Laboratory analyses conducted at Universidad EAN revealed relevant differences in total carbon (44.0–49.3%), nitrogen (1.08–1.73%), and direct emission factors (0.142–0.171 kg CO₂/kg wet weight). LCA was performed using OpenLCA and the ReCiPe method (14 impact categories), showing that Sample 3 consistently exhibited the highest environmental impacts—particularly in particulate matter formation, eutrophication, and resource use—while Sample 1 presented the lowest. The heatmap confirmed this intensity gradient across samples. Monte Carlo simulations indicated coefficients of variation between 8% and 19%, reflecting moderate uncertainty sensitive to compositional heterogeneity. Spearman correlation analysis showed no statistically significant relationship between waste mass and total carbon content (ρ = 0.5; p = 0.66), but a moderate, non-significant trend between compositional variation and direct emission factor (ρ = 1; p = 0.33), constrained by sample size. Overall, the results confirm that the proposed methodology effectively integrates experimental characterization with LCA and uncertainty analysis, demonstrating that small compositional variations in urban biowaste can greatly influence modeled environmental impacts—an essential insight for urban composting systems and solid waste policy planning.