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Towards Sustainability: Achieving a Circular Economy Through Waste Management

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Economic and Business Aspects of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2025 | Viewed by 760

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Institute of Circular Economy, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Interests: green behavior; multidimensional performance evaluation of the social and ecological system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
Interests: environmental engineering; wastewater treatment; resource reclamation; renewable energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Insititute of Circular Economy, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China
Interests: environmental economics and policy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The circular economy holds particular promise for achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with sustainable solutions and novel practices in the circular economy focusing on materials downstream. Waste management is therefore a critical component of a circular economy, which aims to reduce waste and pollution by keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible. In striving to achieve a circular economy through waste management towards sustainability, many environmental, economic, technological, engineering, social, and policy issues ought to be discussed. 

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews related to waste management and the circular economy are welcome and research areas may include, but are not limited to:    

  • The relationship between the circular economy and waste management;   
  • Waste management policy design and simulation;   
  • Ecological waste management principles and frameworks;   
  • Sustainable waste management systems;   
  • Life cycle thinking and assessment for waste management;   
  • Stakeholder behavior analysis in waste management systems;   
  • Circular economy business models;   
  • Various types of solid waste management for a circular economy;   
  • Circular economy solutions to achieve sustainable development goals; 
  • Critical assessment of current circularity metrics;   
  • New information technology applied in sustainable waste management and the circular economy.  

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Tingting Liu
Dr. Yi Zhang
Dr. Zhixiong Weng
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

  • waste management
  • circular economy
  • sustainable development
  • carbon neutral
  • 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle)

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 1009 KiB  
Article
Rural Household Garbage Sorting for Sustainable Development: Contributing to Substantial Health Improvements in China
by Jia Yue, Siyao Chen and Zhixiong Weng
Sustainability 2025, 17(10), 4255; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17104255 - 8 May 2025
Viewed by 256
Abstract
Promoting household garbage sorting holds substantial importance for improving the living environment, enhancing public health, and advancing sustainable development. Based on data from rural households in China, this study empirically examines the impact of garbage sorting on household health and explores its underlying [...] Read more.
Promoting household garbage sorting holds substantial importance for improving the living environment, enhancing public health, and advancing sustainable development. Based on data from rural households in China, this study empirically examines the impact of garbage sorting on household health and explores its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that garbage sorting significantly improves households’ subjective health, with notable heterogeneity across regions and household characteristics. Specifically, the health benefits are more pronounced in the eastern region, as well as among households with higher levels of education and income, while the effects are less significant in lower-education and lower-income groups. Further analysis indicates that garbage sorting may also indirectly promote household health at the cognitive level by fostering greater engagement with health and wellness information. Moreover, garbage sorting is associated with positive changes in other health-related behaviors, such as better regulation of sugar, salt, and oil intake, as well as an increase in the use of health products. These results suggest that garbage sorting not only improves household health outcomes but also contributes to environmental sustainability and health equity, aligning with the broader goals of sustainable rural development. Full article
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