A new article by Nika Chitishvili, Affiliated Assistant Professor at the School of Economics, Caucasus University, has been published in Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - a Springer Nature scientific journal indexed in Scimago Q1, with an Impact Factor of 3.9 and CiteScore of 8.0.

The article titled “Biowaste diversion from landfills in data-limited waste systems: a scenario assessment of composting and anaerobic digestion in Georgia” examines one of the key environmental challenges in Georgia’s waste-management system: the high share of biodegradable municipal solid waste and the continued reliance on landfilling without widespread landfill-gas recovery. The research asks how much greenhouse gas mitigation could be achieved if part of Georgia’s biodegradable municipal waste were diverted from landfills to biological treatment technologies.

The analysis compares three scenarios: baseline landfilling, source-separated composting, and anaerobic digestion. Georgia is used as a transition-economy case where biodegradable waste represents a large share of municipal solid waste, while separate bio-waste treatment remains limited.

The study finds that 50% diversion of biodegradable municipal solid waste could reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 37% through composting and 52.7% through anaerobic digestion, compared with baseline landfilling. The findings show that both biological treatment pathways can significantly reduce landfill methane emissions. The article also concludes that composting can serve as a practical near-term entry point for bio-waste diversion in Georgia, while anaerobic digestion may provide greater long-term climate benefits where source separation, energy recovery, digestate-use standards, and methane-leakage control are in place.

The study contributes a replicable policy-screening framework for data-limited waste systems and highlights the need to integrate environmental, economic, legal, and operational criteria when selecting biological treatment pathways. Its findings are particularly relevant for Georgia’s waste-management reform, climate policy, circular economy development, and alignment with EU environmental requirements.

The full article is available here.