Abstract: In response to the issues of unclear construction and operational status of food waste treatment facilities and the excessive government subsidies affecting decision-making management, the operational data from 530 centralized treatment facilities and 3 971 decentralized treatment facilities nationwide, with a-total treatment capacity of 1.411×105 t/d was systematically collected and analyzed. The results have indicated that the average load rate of existing treatment facilities is below 70%. Centralized treatment facilities primarily operate at a scale of 100-<300 t/d. The application of technologies ranking as follows: anaerobic digestion>co-incineration>aerobic fermentation>biotransformation. The unit investment intensity is concentrated in the range of 300 000-<800 000 yuan/t, and the median government subsidy for waste treatment is 232 yuan/t. Decentralized treatment facilities generally face technical challenges such as high energy consumption, unstable output quality, incomplete product evaluation systems, and difficulties in odor pollution control, and they are mainly suitable for specific scenarios where centralized treatment is not economically feasible. The study has found that low revenue from resource recovery products is a key factor driving high government subsidies. It is recommended to implement cost-reduction and efficiency-improvement measures, such as increasing subsidies for biogas resource utilization and developing low-cost treatment technologies, to narrow the gap with incineration treatment subsidies. The research results can provide data support and decision-making references for optimizing the layout of food waste treatment facilities and subsidy policies.

Key words: food waste, centralized treatment, decentralized treatment, cost analysis, cost-reduction and efficiency-improvement