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Waste Management and Sustainable Development: Social, Environmental, and Economic Co-Benefits

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 April 2023) | Viewed by 10241

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Cristina Trois

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Guest Editor

Director of the Centre for Renewable and Sustainable Energy Studies, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 6100, South Africa
Interests: environmental and civil-engineering; waste management; climate change; bioenergy; waste to energy; biogas and bio-hydrogen from organic waste; systems modelling; decision-support tools; renewable energy from waste; GHGs control from zero waste in Africa and developing countries; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Adriana Gómez-Sanabria

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Guest Editor

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Laxenburg, Austria
Interests: waste management; sustainability; circular economy; climate change; air pollution

Dr. Ivonne Angulo De Castro

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Guest Editor

Chemical and Environmental Department, Universidad de América, Bogotá, Colombia
Interests: sustainability; waste management; environmental impact; agroecology; urban agriculture; urban ecology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent research on waste has focused on the relationships between waste, resource use, pollution, and climate change. Despite the vast amount of evidence demonstrating the positive impacts of waste reduction and improved waste management (i.e., through social, environmental, and economic benefits) at different scales (i.e., local, regional, and global), global waste generation is increasing and the composition of waste is becoming more complex; the waste management systems currently in place are not able to cope with the high quantities and complexity of waste, especially in the global south. Therefore, efforts such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Circular Economy Framework, the EU waste-related directives (e.g., Directive 2018/851, Directive 2018/851, Directive 2018/852), and the EU Circular Economy Action Plan, among others, are crucial to fostering sustainability by promoting waste reduction, reuse, and recycling. These actions constitute the foundation of a movement to transform waste management systems into resource and energy providers; this is an especially critical step in achieving sustainability. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with new insights into the role of waste management as an important catalyst for realizing sustainability. Contributions should focus on assessing strategies in the waste sector that foster sustainability and evaluating the environmental, social, and/or economic co-benefits of those strategies.

1. Focus

The rising quantity of waste generation and the of suitable treatment facilities to handle it has resulted in various environmental, social, health, and economic impacts. The adoption of strategies (e.g., behavioral, technical, and political) aimed at improving waste management, such as waste reduction, recovery (reuse and recycling), and energy generation, will foster sustainability in several fronts.

2. Scope

We welcome scientific manuscripts or reviews that address waste management and its impact on resource use, reduction in GHG emissions, and air and water pollution. All types of waste and fractions are of interest, including: municipal, industrial, agricultural, plastics, textiles, glass, metal, electronic waste, etc. The following are several areas in which papers are required:

Waste reduction, reuse, and recycling;
Assessments of waste systems as providers of secondary materials and in replacing raw materials;
Waste management and circular economy;
Waste valorization;
Environmental assessments ( impacts on GHG, air, water);
Cost–benefit analysis;
Environmental economics;
Baseline and mitigation scenarios;
Policy and regulations.

3. Propose

This issue hopes to expand the knowledge surrounding waste management and its role in sustainability. Manuscripts should explore new sustainable strategies and actions at social, technical, and political levels. This issue builds upon the current state of the art and aims to present innovative approaches to assess the impacts of waste, minimize waste, improve its management and valorization, and highlight its relevance in sustainability.

Prof. Dr. Cristina Trois
Dr. Adriana Gómez-Sanabria
Dr. Ivonne Angulo De Castro
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

circular economy
climate change
resource use
sustainability
waste management

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 2299 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Integrated Location–Scheduling–Routing Framework for a Smart Municipal Solid Waste System

by Omid Hashemi-Amiri, Ran Ji and Kuo Tian

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 7774; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15107774 - 9 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 4596

Abstract

In recent decades, the explosion of the waste generation rate and corresponding environmental impacts worldwide have turned waste management into one of the most vital services in urban areas to alleviate the waste-related issues. In this study, a novel integrated model is developed to improve the municipal solid waste system by considering the facility location, shift scheduling, and vehicle routing decisions. The problem is formulated as a tri-objective mixed-integer linear programming model, striving to optimize the sustainable development goals in the waste system. These objectives encompass the total profit, air pollution emissions, citizen satisfaction, and social risk factors. The findings from this study illustrate that the proposed integrated framework empowers decision makers to maintain the resilience of the municipal solid waste system by concurrently addressing three critical sustainability aspects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Management and Sustainable Development: Social, Environmental, and Economic Co-Benefits)

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13 pages, 1082 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Use of Water from Petroleum Production in Colombia for Soil Irrigation as a Sustainable Strategy Adapted from the Oman Desert

by Angie Tatiana Ortega-Ramírez, Ivonne Angulo-De Castro, Nubia Liliana Becerra, Juan Camilo Gómez Caipa and Victor Alexei Huerta-Quiñones

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14892; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214892 - 11 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1618

Abstract

Production water represents a major sustainability challenge for oil and gas industries, which is why various strategies have emerged globally to encourage its reuse in proactive projects. One of the most recognized strategies has been developed in the Omani desert where artificial wetlands were designed to physically and biologically treat production water. The present study proposes to adapt this strategy to a Colombian context to further study the sustainability of production water reuse. The methodology of this study consists of three phases: evaluate in-field production water through the characterization of irrigation water, identify and prioritize the variables of said strategy, and propose an adequate soil irrigation strategy for a Colombian field. An expert matrix and multicriteria analysis are used to identify the level of interaction among the variables presented, according to the criteria of experts in the field of sustainable production water management. Water quality was ranked by the experts as the most important single variable. On a scale of 1–5, the variables with the highest level of interaction (2.8) are water quality and the type of treatment seedlings, and the variables with the lowest level of interaction (1.3) are additional water treatment systems and final water use. These results have led to the formation of a hierarchy of variables according to impact, which has been used to create a triple bottom line diagram and demonstrate the feasibility of implementing the Omani strategy in Colombia. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Management and Sustainable Development: Social, Environmental, and Economic Co-Benefits)

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Review

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25 pages, 1221 KiB

Open AccessReview

Food and Garden Organic Waste Management in Australia: Co-Benefits for Regional Communities and Local Government

by Christine Blanchard, Peter Harris, Celmara Pocock and Bernadette K. McCabe

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 9901; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15139901 - 21 Jun 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3160

Abstract

Landfilling organic waste generates greenhouse gases and contributes to climate change. While the management of organic waste has been identified by all tiers of Australian government as paramount to meeting net zero emissions targets, diversion of domestic organic waste from landfill is primarily the responsibility of local government. This review of academic and grey literature considers developments in food organics and garden organics collections in Australia and the implications for regional communities. It reviews source-separated collections and the treatment of organic waste administered by regional local governments and identifies there is a dearth of information in this area. Key knowledge gaps emerging from the study include: (1) There is a disconnect between the various state governments’ policies, strategies, and regulation of organics diversion and action on mandating or supporting kerbside collections; (2) there is insufficient funding and subsidy to encourage councils to implement collection systems, and (3) the community has limited understanding of the cost and environmental burden of waste, and subsequently there is no willingness to pay for collection systems. This paper outlines how these issues contribute to individual regional councils deferring kerbside organic waste collection systems and offers recommendations that could enable the achievement of more ideal diversion targets that are relevant to, and affordable for, their local communities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Management and Sustainable Development: Social, Environmental, and Economic Co-Benefits)

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