Special Issue "Waste Management for Sustainable Development"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Waste and Recycling".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Munjed A. Maraqa
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Interests: modeling environmental systems; waste management; water quality; EHS management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid economic development and population growth have resulted in a huge increase in waste production. Waste is a burden on development, as it is typically associated with high management cost and vast carbon footprint. With this realization, innovative solutions are needed to manage produced waste in a manner that adheres to environmental, economic, and social constraints. Waste management is a complex dynamic system that is challenged in most cases by technical, managerial, logistical, and legal issues. Ideally, a sustainable waste management system should be based on technically sound approaches to eliminate or minimize public health hazards while maintaining environmental quality, cost affordability, and public satisfaction. While tremendous work has been done in the field of waste management, more attention is needed on sustainable approaches with consideration of individual system components, interlinked components, and the system as a whole.

This Special Issue will cover progress in the areas of waste management design, operation, policy or practice with emphasis on sustainable development. The intention is to promote fundamental and applied research that could be beneficial to waste management researchers, practitioners, or policy makers. Issues that will be covered include waste generation and characterization, collection, cleaner production, waste utilization, life cycle assessment, planning, policy and regulations, innovative technologies, education and training, and system/process optimization.

We are soliciting high-quality work in the form of original research articles, best practices, and critical reviews. Case studies will be considered but should extend the discussion beyond the locality of the study. All articles should address waste management problems and solutions that are of general interest to readers with emphasis on sustainability.

Dr. Munjed A. Maraqa
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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 1900 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

  • Generation and characterization
  • Collection and transport
  • Reduction, reuse, and recycling
  • Composting
  • Thermal treatment
  • Landfilling
  • Environmental sustainability
  • Economic sustainability
  • Social sustainability
  • Public health
  • Policy and regulations
  • Education and training
  • Planning
  • Optimization
  • Sustainable practices

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Illegal Waste Dumping under a Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme: Application of the Neutralization Theory
Sustainability 2021, 13(16), 9279; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169279 - 18 Aug 2021
Viewed by 301
Abstract
Illegal waste dumping has become a threat to human health and the global environment. In Hong Kong, the government has proposed a quantity-based municipal solid waste charging scheme to reduce waste. However, individuals may still dispose of waste improperly, even if such a [...] Read more.
Illegal waste dumping has become a threat to human health and the global environment. In Hong Kong, the government has proposed a quantity-based municipal solid waste charging scheme to reduce waste. However, individuals may still dispose of waste improperly, even if such a scheme has been implemented. In this study, the neutralization theory was adopted and an online survey with 273 respondents was conducted to examine the reasons for improper dumping intentions. A principal component analysis identified two types of neutralization: intrinsic neutralization (including denial of responsibility, denial of injury, and defense of necessity) and extrinsic neutralization (including condemnation of the condemners and appeal to higher loyalties). A regression analysis showed that intrinsic neutralization and gender were significant factors for illegal waste dumping intentions when attitude toward illegal waste dumping was controlled. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Management for Sustainable Development)
Article
Properties of Steel Fiber-Reinforced Alkali-Activated Slag Concrete Made with Recycled Concrete Aggregates and Dune Sand
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 8017; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13148017 - 18 Jul 2021
Viewed by 574
Abstract
Reutilizing industrial by-products and recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) to replace cement and natural aggregates (NA) in concrete is becoming increasingly important for sustainable development. Yet, experimental evidence is needed prior to the widespread use of this sustainable concrete by the construction industry. This [...] Read more.
Reutilizing industrial by-products and recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) to replace cement and natural aggregates (NA) in concrete is becoming increasingly important for sustainable development. Yet, experimental evidence is needed prior to the widespread use of this sustainable concrete by the construction industry. This study examines the performance of alkali-activated slag concrete made with RCA and reinforced with steel fibers. Natural coarse aggregates were replaced with RCA. Steel fibers were added to mixes incorporating RCA at different volume fractions. Desert dune sand was used as fine aggregate. The mechanical and durability properties of plain and steel fiber-reinforced concrete made with RCA were experimentally examined. The results showed that the compressive strength did not decrease in plain concrete mixes with 30 and 70% RCA replacement. However, full replacement of NA with RCA resulted in a 20% reduction in the compressive strength of the plain mix. In fact, 100% RCA mixes could only be produced with compressive strength comparable to that of an NA-based control mix in conjunction with 2% steel fiber, by volume. In turn, at least 1% steel fiber, by volume, was required to maintain comparable splitting tensile strength. Furthermore, RCA replacement led to higher water absorption and sorptivity and lower bulk resistivity, ultrasonic pulse velocity, and abrasion resistance. Steel fiber incorporation in RCA-based mixes densified the concrete and improved its resistance to abrasion, water permeation, and transport, thereby enhancing its mechanical properties to exceed that of the NA-based counterpart. The hardened properties were correlated to 28-day cylinder compressive strength through analytical regression models. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Management for Sustainable Development)
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Article
A Techno-Economic Evaluation of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Conversion to Energy in Indonesia
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7232; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137232 - 28 Jun 2021
Viewed by 504
Abstract
Municipal solid waste (MSW) processing is still problematic in Indonesia. From the hierarchy of waste management, it is clear that energy recovery from waste could be an option after prevention and the 5R (rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle) processes. The Presidential Regulation No [...] Read more.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) processing is still problematic in Indonesia. From the hierarchy of waste management, it is clear that energy recovery from waste could be an option after prevention and the 5R (rethink, refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle) processes. The Presidential Regulation No 35/2018 mandated the acceleration of waste-to-energy (WtE) plant adoption in Indonesia. The present study aimed to demonstrate a techno-economic evaluation of a commercial WtE plant in Indonesia by processing 1000 tons of waste/day to produce ca. 19.7 MW of electricity. The WtE electricity price is set at USD 13.35 cent/kWh, which is already higher than the average household price at USD 9.76 cent/kWh. The capital investment is estimated at USD 102.2 million. The annual operational cost is estimated at USD 12.1 million and the annual revenue at USD 41.6 million. At this value, the internal rate of return (IRR) for the WtE plant is 25.32% with a payout time (PoT) of 3.47 years. In addition, this study also takes into account electricity price sales, tipping fee, and pretreatment cost of waste. The result of a sensitivity analysis showed that the electricity price was the most sensitive factor. This study reveals that it is important to maintain a regulated electricity price to ensure the sustainability of the WtE plant in Indonesia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste Management for Sustainable Development)
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