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Essay on Waste Management

• Updated on  
• May 11, 2023

Every year, the amount of waste is doubling because of the increasing population around the world. The 3Rs, Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle should be followed to help in waste management. Waste management is the need of the hour and should be followed by individuals globally. This is also a common essay topic in the school curriculum and various academic and competitive exams like IELTS , TOEFL , SAT , UPSC , etc. In this blog, let us explore how to write an essay on Waste Management.

This Blog Includes:

Tips for writing an essay on waste management , what is the meaning of waste management, essay on waste management in 200 words, essay on waste management in 300 words .

To write an impactful and scoring essay, here are some tips on how to manage waste and write a good essay:

• The initial step is to write an introduction or background information about the topic
• You must use a formal style of writing and avoid using slang language.
• To make an essay more impactful, write dates, quotations, and names to provide a better understanding
• You can use jargon wherever it is necessary, as it sometimes makes an essay complicated
• To make an essay more creative, you can also add information in bulleted points wherever possible
• Always remember to add a conclusion where you need to summarise crucial points
• Once you are done, read through the lines and check spelling and grammar mistakes before submission

Waste management is the management of waste by disposal and recycling of it. It requires proper techniques while keeping in mind the environmental situations. For example, there are various methods and techniques through which the waste is disposed of. Some of these are Landfills, Recycling, Composting, etc. These methods are useful in disposing of waste without causing any harm to the environment.

Sample Essays  on Waste Management

To help you write a perfect essay that would help you score well, here are some sample essays to give you an idea about the same.

One of the crucial aspects of today’s society is waste management. Due to a surge in population, the waste is generated in millions of tons day by day and affects the lives of a plethora of people across the globe. Mostly the affected people live in slums that are extremely close to the waste disposal areas; thus, they are highly prone to communicable and non-communicable diseases. These people are deprived of necessities to maintain a healthy life, including sanitation and proper hygiene. 

There are various methods and techniques for disposing of waste including Composting, Landfills, Recycling, and much more. These methods are helpful in disposing of waste without being harmful to the environment. Waste management is helpful in protecting the environment and creating safety of the surrounding environment for humans and animals. The major health issue faced by people across the world is environmental pollution and this issue can only be solved or prevented by proper waste management so that a small amount of waste is there in the environment. One of the prominent and successful waste management processes, recycling enables us not only in saving resources but also in preventing the accumulation of waste. Therefore it is very important to teach and execute waste management.

The basic mantra of waste management is” Refuse, Reuse, Reduce, Repurpose, and Recycle”. Waste management is basically the collection or accumulation of waste and its disposal. This process involves the proper management of waste including recycling waste generated and even generating useful renewable energy from it. One of the most recent initiatives taken by various countries at the local, national and international levels, waste management is a way of taking care of planet earth. This responsible act helps in providing a good and stable environment for the present and future generations. In India, most animals get choked and struggle till death because they consume waste on the streets.

So far many lives are lost, not only animals but also humans due to a lack of proper waste management. There are various methods and techniques for disposing of waste including Composting, Landfills, Recycling, and much more. These methods are helpful in disposing of waste without being harmful to the environment. Waste management is helpful in protecting the environment and creating safety of the surrounding environment for humans and animals. This process of waste management evolved due to industrialization as prior to these inventions simple burying was sufficient for disposing of waste.

One of the crucial things to control waste is creating awareness among people and this can only be achieved only when the governments and stakeholders in various countries take this health issue seriously. To communicate with various communities and reach each end of the country, the message can be communicated through media and related platforms. People also need to participate in waste management procedures by getting self-motivated and taking care of activities of daily living. These steps to create consciousness about waste management are crucial to guarantee the success and welfare of the people and most importantly our planet earth.

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We hope this blog has helped you structure a terrific essay on waste management. Planning to ace your IELTS, get expert tips from coaches at Leverage Live by Leverage Edu .

Sonal is a creative, enthusiastic writer and editor who has worked extensively for the Study Abroad domain. She splits her time between shooting fun insta reels and learning new tools for content marketing. If she is missing from her desk, you can find her with a group of people cracking silly jokes or petting neighbourhood dogs.

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The Global Benefits of Reducing Food Loss and Waste, and How to Do It

• Food Loss and Waste
• food security

One-third of all food produced globally by weight is lost or wasted between farm and fork — that's  more than 1 billion tonnes . Converted into calories, this equates to 24% of the world’s food supply going uneaten. At the same time,  1 in 10 people globally remain malnourished.

This scale of food loss and waste harms not only human health and nutrition but also economies and the environment. Wasted food takes a major financial toll, costing the global economy more than $1 trillion every year. It also fuels climate change, accounting for approximately 8%-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

And if current trends persist, food loss and waste will double by 2050.

Here, we delve into the scope of this challenge and the global benefits of reducing food loss and waste, as well as solutions at the individual, local and national levels.

What Causes Food Loss and Waste?

While food loss and food waste are often talked about together, these terms encompass different issues throughout the food system. Food loss refers to loss at or near the farm and in the supply chain, for example, during harvesting, storage or transport. Food waste occurs at the retail level, in hospitality and in households.

Food loss and waste are caused by a wide range of issues, from technological challenges to consumer behaviors. Some common drivers of food loss include:

• Inadequate technology : Poor infrastructure, such as roads that flood or are hard to travel consistently, can prevent food from making it from farm to table. Lack of cold storage is another major concern for ensuring food can arrive fresh to markets. Farmers may also struggle with inadequate equipment such as old or inefficient machinery that makes it difficult to harvest all of a crop.
• Suboptimal packaging : How foods are packaged can make a big difference in the length of time they stay safe to eat. Many people are justly concerned about the environmental impacts of excessive packaging, but it’s important to remember that correct packaging can help foods stay fresher for longer, thereby reducing spoilage and the associated  methane emissions  that result from wasted food. An underappreciated fact is that the environmental impact of wasted food is greater than that of packaging waste. So, while it’s important to limit this waste, it’s also important to use correct packaging to reduce food spoilage.

Some common reasons for food waste include:

• Poor food management : Examples include insufficient skills and knowledge among staff who prepare food, which can lead to unnecessary waste during cooking, and inflexible procurement requirements such as retailers only stocking perfect-looking produce or not accepting a farmer’s oversupply of crop. Food waste can also occur when retailers and food providers do not adequately forecast and plan for demand to meet supply (or vice versa).
• Consumer behaviors : Households account for the majority of food wasted at the consumer and retail level. This often results from a lack of awareness of the scale of the issue and insufficient education about how to properly use up and store food at home. Food waste also stems from  norms and attitudes  that say wasting food is normal, as well as concerns about possible risks of eating food past its sell-by or use-by date label.

There used to be a view that food waste, which happens at the consumer level, tended to be more of a developed country problem while food loss, which can arise from issues in farming and supply chains, was a greater problem in developing countries. But recent research has shown this isn’t true.

Work by the  UN Environment Programme  shows that food waste occurs at roughly the same level in middle-income countries as in high-income countries. Good-quality data is still limited, but there is a reasonable amount of information to back up this conclusion. Similarly, recent work by the  World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF)  concluded that food loss on farms is a problem in high-income countries as well as middle- and lower-income countries. These recent studies show that both issues must be addressed on a global scale.

The Global Benefits of Reducing Food Loss and Waste

The  UN’s Sustainable Development Goals  include a call to halve food waste and reduce food losses by 2030 for good reason. Reducing food loss and waste generates benefits for economies, for businesses and consumers, for human health and for the environment.

Improved global nutrition and food security

Reducing food loss and waste can play a big role in providing a healthy, nutritious diet to a growing global population. Not only does one third of all food produced by volume go uneaten, but perishable foods with higher nutritional value, such as fruit and vegetables, are particularly prone to loss and waste: More than 40% of produce by weight is lost or wasted worldwide each year. Ensuring more of the global food supply is used to feed people, rather than perishing or ending up in landfills, is an important strategy for addressing hunger in a world where hundreds of millions still face malnutrition.

Reduced greenhouse gas emissions

Project Drawdown  has listed reducing food loss and waste as the single-best strategy for reducing emissions and fighting the climate crisis. Because up to 10% of global emissions result from food loss and waste, it’s simply not possible to achieve the Paris Agreement’s goal to stay within 1.5-2 degrees C (2.7-3.6 degrees F) of warming without tackling this issue.

Emissions from food loss and waste result from the energy and inputs used to produce food that’s ultimately not consumed, as well as the methane that’s emitted when food rots in fields or landfills. Although shorter lived than carbon dioxide, methane is an especially potent greenhouse gas with over  80 times the warming power  of CO2. By reducing food loss and waste, we avoid its associated planet-warming emissions.

Improving existing food systems  will also help the world feed more people without expanding cultivated areas. Agricultural expansion is a major driver of greenhouse gas emission s and often results in deforestation, which releases stored carbon dioxide and lowers the land’s carbon storage capacity. In addition, increasing the efficiency of food production could potentially liberate agricultural land for reforestation, an important way to  remove carbon  from the atmosphere. 

WRI has identified alleviating land use pressures — through efforts like reducing the need to produce more food to compensate for loss and waste — as a key strategy to address  the global land squeeze .

Financial savings for businesses and consumers and increased financial security for farmers

Reducing consumer food waste by even 20%-25% by 2030 could save the world an estimated  $120-$300 billion  per year. These savings play out on an individual level as well as a systemic one; by consuming more of what they purchase, households can reduce their overall spending on food. Eliminating avoidable food waste would save the average family in the United Kingdom more than £700 ($870) each year, while in the United States, the average family would save approximately $1,800.

Reducing food losses — especially post-harvest losses, including food that’s grown but never makes it to market — will also improve farmers’ incomes.

Without the resources to buy up-to-date equipment, many farmers must rely on manual approaches or old, broken equipment that limits their potential yields. Targeted loans and financing can help these farmers buy better equipment, allowing them to harvest more and better-quality crops in a shorter amount of time. The efficiency savings may then lead to higher income. In addition, many smallholder farmers are women who would especially benefit from access to finance and new equipment; reduced food losses could mean they are better positioned to feed, educate and care for their families.

How to Reduce Food Loss and Waste at a Systemic Level

Because food loss and waste happen at every stage of the supply chain, everyone has a vital role to play in addressing this issue.

Households can reduce food waste by focusing on smart shopping and food storage. Some strategies include writing a shopping list, planning meals so that when you go shopping you know what and how much you need, understanding the difference between use-by and best-by date labels, making sure your fridge is set to the optimal temperature, understanding how best to store different foods and making the most of your freezer for leftovers.

Restaurants

Restaurants can reduce food waste by monitoring and managing food usage and ordering. Strategies include measuring food waste in the kitchen to understand what foods are being wasted and designing a fix, engaging staff to understand the importance of minimizing waste, avoiding super-sized portions, and focusing on a smaller range of menu offerings in order to better forecast supply ordering.

In September 2022, Ingka Group, IKEA’s largest retailer, became the  world’s first major company  to cut food waste in half, having done so across all its IKEA restaurants in 32 markets. Such savings can also bring financial benefits for restaurants, with the average restaurant examined in a Champions 12.3 study saving  $7 for every $1 invested  in programs to combat food waste.

Retailers can reduce food waste by improving stocking and food handling practices. Strategies include measuring the amounts and types of food being wasted to identify hotspots that can be reduced; training staff in temperature management, product handling and stock rotation; accepting less-than-perfect looking produce; and educating customers about better food management — for example, how to meal plan and understand date labels, and tips for safe food handling at home.

Many retailers in the UK now include storage advice on food packs (such as “Store in the fridge”) and give customers menu cards with ideas for cooking the produce or foods they purchase. Some are also removing “Best before” date labels from fruit and vegetables, which can help consumers avoid throwing away food that is still perfectly edible. Retailers are explicitly telling customers that these measures are intended to reduce waste and encouraging people to use their senses to tell if food is still good to eat.

Food producers

Farmers, ranchers and fishers can reduce food losses by improving farming practices; for example, by ensuring produce is harvested at the right maturity and using appropriate harvesting equipment to maximize yield while minimizing crop damage. They can also improve their skills or use tools to better schedule harvesting, including accessing better data on weather via new apps like  Mausam  (which is published by India's Ministry of Earth Sciences). And they can engage customers such as wholesale retailers to communicate implications of order changes.

Food distributers

Packing, storage and distribution facilities can reduce food loss and waste by re-examining handling, storage and transportation to ensure adoption of best practices and reduce damage. They can also use technological interventions to optimize the transport of food, and work upstream with customers to provide planning tools and handling and storage technologies that help them reduce losses.

For example, bar coding is being used to track food’s transportation journey, so managers can know where a product has been, for how long, and in what temperatures and conditions. This allows retailers to more accurately label and handle food to maximize shelf life, while also providing traceability in the event of a recall.

Processors and manufacturers

Processors and manufacturers can reduce food loss and waste by implementing technical solutions in the supply chain. Strategies include improving training to reduce technical malfunctions and errors during processing, reengineering production processes and product design to reduce waste, using product sizes and packaging that reduce waste by consumers and standardizing date labels to reduce confusion.

Governments and policymakers

Governments and policymakers can reduce food loss and waste through educational programs, policies and financial incentives that support more efficient food production and distribution. For example, they can embed food loss awareness, technical assistance and financial aid into agricultural extension services and farmer subsidy programs.

Governments can also promote policies to prevent unfair trading practices (such as last-minute order cancellations and unilateral or retroactive changes to contracts); remove barriers to food redistribution via policies such as liability limitations and tax breaks, which make it easier for food suppliers to donate safe but unsold food to charities or those in need; and support policies to standardize food date labelling practices to reduce confusion about product safety and quality and improve consumer understanding of the meaning of date labels. Finally, governments can make measurement and reporting of food loss and waste by large companies mandatory to facilitate benchmarking, transparency and learning.

Learn more about WRI’s work  Fighting Food Loss and Waste .

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Waste management and green technology: future trends in circular economy leading towards environmental sustainability

• Review Article
• Published: 05 October 2022
• Volume 29 , pages 80161–80178, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Muhammad Tanveer 1 ,
• Syed Abdul Rehman Khan 2 ,
• Muhammad Umar 3 ,
• Zhang Yu 4 , 5 ,
• Muhammad Jawad Sajid 2 &
• Ikram Ul Haq 6  

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The effective treatment of waste to be used as a resource in future has a major role in achieving environmental sustainability and moving towards circular economy. The current research is aimed to provide in-depth detail regarding prominent trends and research themes, evolution, future research orientation, main characteristics, and mapping of research publications on waste management, technological innovation in circular economy domain from the year 2000 to 2021. Different analyses including text mining and bibliometric and content analyses were applied to answer the research question and provide the details on aforementioned variables. From the bibliometric analyses, a total of 1118 articles were drawn out from the Scopus database to conceptualize the core body of research. As a result, the following themes were identified: electronic waste, circular economy transition, plastic waste, bio-based waste management, lifecycle assessment, and ecological impacts, and construction and demolition waste management. The highlighted features, future research orientation, and prominent research perspective can provide guideline for future research to enrich the literature through conducting studies on provided research directions and help lead waste management and technological innovation policymakers, professionals, and practitioners in moving towards circular transition.

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Introduction

With rapid industrialization and economic development, the production of waste from various industries and sectors such as pharmaceutical, agriculture, logistics, and textile are enhancing throughout the world. According to Kawai and Tasaki ( 2016 ), the solid waste production will reach up to 2.2 billion tons by 2025. In such circumstances, countries across globe have been following measures to reduce waste by adopting green/circular practices, which is focused on closing the loop of supply chain. In simple words, it is the move towards circular economy (CRE) from linear method of production which creates more waste (Zhang et al. 2022 ; Tian et al. 2022 ). The circular practices are also focused on reducing waste at each level of production, i.e., from top to bottom, and intend to improve sustainable performance (Ranjbari et al. 2021 ). Although the adoption of green/circular practices can make better resource and waste management (WTM), the technological innovation (TI) has also revolutionized the way the industries operate and helped in effective implementation of green/circular practices. Through leveraging TI such as blockchain technology (BCT), Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud computing (CLT) firms have redefined their business models such as redesigning personalized offerings to customers (Nambisan et al. 2017 ; Sheng et al. 2022 ; Umar et al. 2021a ).

In recent years, studies have been conducted on WTM and TI corresponding to the CRE goals such as application of TI in WTM (Mastos et al. 2021 ) developing CRE indicators for WTM (Luttenberger 2020 ), drivers of CRE (Hina et al. 2022 ), drivers of WTM towards CRE through TI (Chauhan et al. 2021 ; Márquez and Rutkowski 2020 ; Khan et al., 2021a ), and application of TI in CRE/green practices (Yu et al. 2022 ; Khan et al. 2021c ; Umar et al. 2021a ) managing e-waste in CRE (Gautam et al. 2022 ). Bibliometric analysis has helped scholars in gaining insight about publication in the area of WTM and TI towards CRE. Researchers have empirically analyzed the role of TI in WTM towards a CRE and developed various lines of WTM on broader outlook such as domestic waste (Yang et al. 2021 ), waste incineration (Matos and Sousa-Coutinho  2022 ), municipal solid waste (MSTW) (Molina-Peñate et al. 2022 ), and demolition waste (Yu et al. 2022 ). Nevertheless, the research on how TI can enable WTM in CRE context has not been elaborated in depth in the prior study (Chauhan et al. 2021 ) which is an impediment for TI, WTM and CRE professionals, and policy makers. Therefore, detailed map of trends and themes of WTM aligned with TI and CRE perspective is needed.

Thus, the current research work aims to provide in-depth detail about WTM with TI and its main characteristics, salient research trends and themes, evolution, and future research direction by scrutinizing the literature of WTM with TI in the context of CRE for the last two decades (2000–2021). To achieve the objectives of the current study, subsequent research questions were formulated:

RQ1. How much the research on WTM with TI evolved in the area of CRE?

RQ2. What are the prominent trends and themes of WTM and TI in CRE?

RQ3. What can be the future research orientation on WTM and TI towards the CRE transition?

According to best the knowledge of the researchers, very few studies have comprehensively considered bibliometric analysis (BMA), text mining analysis (TMA), and content analyses (CTA) simultaneously on WTM and TI within the CRE context.

Therefore, the current study contributes by providing the background, main trends and themes, prominent patterns, and future research direction of WTM and TI in the context of CRE over last two decades as a mechanism to support professionals and policy makers in transition towards CRE and provide in-depth detail regarding aforementioned variables that need further explanation.

The current study is organized as follows: the “ An overview on WTM and TI in CRE context ” section indicates the overview on TI and WTM in the context of CRE while the “ Research methodology ” section illustrates the research methodology adopted followed by the results of BMA, text mining, and content analysis on the WTM and TI in the context of CRE in the “ Results and discussion ” section. Moreover, the “ Implications and future research directions section elaborates the implications and avenues for future research while the “ Conclusions ” section demonstrates the conclusion and research limitations.

An overview on WTM and TI in CRE context

WTM is referred as a process of managing the discarded material from origin to disposal through gathering, transportation, and treatment (Tomić and Schneider 2020 ; Salmenperä et al.  2021 ). The implementation of sound WTM system can help minimize waste and harmful pollutants which caused the leftover of the waste (Nelles et al. 2016 ) to lead towards sustainable environment (Aghbashlo et al. 2019 ). In effective WTM system, wastes were recycled which help in lessening the excavating of primeval material (Ahirwar and Tripathi 2021 ; Zhang et al. 2021g ; Satayavibul and Ratanatamskul 2021 ). Scholars have demonstrated WTM systems as an important element in CRE and mentioned some key strategies, namely Refuse/Rethink, Resell/reuse, Reduce, Repair, Remanufacture, Refurbish, Repurpose, Recover, Recycle, and Re-mine (Zhang et al. 2021d ; Reike et al. 2018 ); all these strategies help mitigate pollution and prevent waste production. Although the implementation of WTM system can help attain sustainable environment, for its effective implementation scholars have given focus on the adoption of TI as innovation through technologies have the potential to improve and modernized the implementation of WTM systems (Umar et al. 2021b ; Yu et al. 2021 ).

The literature on TI in the period surveyed shows that typical technologies include AI, autonomous robots, BCT, IoT, additive manufacturing, unmanned aerial vehicle or drones, radio frequency identification (RFID), cloud computing, augmented reality (AR) big data, and analytics electric vehicles (Zhang et al. 2021e ; Strandhagen et al. 2017 ). The concept of waste is the central idea in various definitions of circular economy, according to Kirchherr et al. ( 2017 ) waste is the 6th most cited term among the definitions of CRE. Researchers have illustrated that the current momentum for CRE is to take actions for better management of waste globally, in this regard, Fletcher et al. ( 2021 ) and Di Foggia and Beccarello ( 2021 ) have indicated that WTM system can become sustainable through adoption of innovative technologies which help in achieving zero waste. Similarly, Kurniawan et al. ( 2022 ) have also elaborated that effective implementation of TI is a driving force in moving towards zero carbon strategies in CRE framework. The scholars were also of the view that the deployment of TI has promoted recycling, prevention, reuse, and reduction in waste before dumping of waste in lands and conserve the resources. The research studies on waste management has indicated that although the practitioners and policy makers had embraced the concept of zero waste but still there is need of more advancement in the zero waste domain (Ranjbari et al.  2021 ; Chen et al. 2021 ; Zhang et al. 2021a ) and more research studies are needed to that provide guidelines to industries regarding circularity of resources (Saidani et al. 2019 ) and more standardized indicators of waste management should be developed.

Research methodology

The current study used quantitative and qualitative approaches in examining the prior literature on TI and WTM in CRE; the detail of which is presented in the sections elaborated below. The design of current research is presented in Fig. 1 .

Research design

Data collection, scrubbing, and sampling

To effectively gather published articles in the current study, Scopus database is one prominent source of published materials used for the collection of data. The current study used following the strings (waste AND management AND green AND technology) to search for relevant publications in the field. The initial research was held during the first month of 2022 and was restricted to English language and peer-reviewed journal articles and the time period selected was from 2000 to 2021. According, to the criteria 1118 articles were got selected and used for analyses purpose. From the outcome, 1118 articles fulfill the criteria of selection, and were utilized for analysis. The selected data set was cleaned as it is a fundamental step in keyword-based analyses.

Data analysis

To determine the structure and evolution of the current research field, various analyses were employed the detail of which are provided in the sub-sections given below.

(i) Bibliometric analysis

In recent years, Bibliometric analysis BMA is being used in multiple areas for instance, in CRE (Sganzerla et al. 2021 ), open innovation (Gao et al. 2020 ), and sustainable supply chain, which is a powerful statistical analytical tool and a quantitative technique used to manage considerable quantity of scientific literature mapping and publications. It also helps in providing association between citations, articles, citation networks, and journals and provides in-depth detail about future research directions (Baker et al. 2020 ). In the current study, VOS viewer software was utilized to perform this analysis. Moreover, various bibliometric parameters were indicated to provide the bibliometric info of published articles in TI and WTM in the context of CRE.

(ii) Text mining analysis

It is a tool used for analyzing research trends and themes and helps in extraction of information from large number of documents in text form (Jung and Lee 2020 ), used by researchers in the field of CRE. This analysis captures the phrase pattern and semantic structures that best describe extensive amount of text data.

(iii) Content analysis

Content analysis (CTA) is a measurement method which is used to summarize and identify trends and can be used for both inductive and deductive research. In line with the research study held by Jia and Jiang ( 2018 ) and Schöggl et al. ( 2020 ), this analysis was applied in the current study to explain the findings. Moreover, the sample articles obtained in the current study were arranged in clusters with the help of data clustering technique, and through using qualitative CTA more than ten persuasive articles from each cluster were identified to examine the theoretical orientation of TI and WTM towards the CRE.

Results and discussion

To answer the research questions formulated in the current study, the results are illustrated in the section given below.

Delineation of prior research work

To address the first research question, indicators of BMA are elucidated below:

Q1: How much the research on WTM with TI evolved in the area of CRE?

(i) Descriptive analysis: evolution of publications

Figure 2 demonstrates the published articles trend about WTM research with TI evolved within the CRE domain from 2000 to 2021. Out of the 1118 published articles, majority of the articles were published after 2009, indicating 90% of the current study sample. Thus, according to results, it can be stated that the WTM research with TI evolved within the CRE domain gained dominance from 2009. According to Goyal et al. ( 2021 ) and Singh et al. ( 2021 ), the significant increase in number of publications indicate that research on CRE has attained growing attention with in various domains such as TI and WTM .

Publication trend from 2000 to 2021

(ii) Citation analysis: main authors and articles

Figure 3 indicates the citation analysis in term of years, in which it can be seen that the highest number of citations received by WTM research with TI towards CRE is after 2010. On the other hand, Table 1 illustrates productive authors in the period of study in which Tsang with 11 articles, Ok with 7, and Poon with 6 articles were the most productive authors.

Year wise citation

The highest number of citation received by any article in a research domain is known as influential publication (Reid and Chen 2007 ). The vastly cited research articles in this study data set are illustrated in Table 2 . From the mentioned articles, the article published in Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal was the highly cited article. It can also be seen that the highly cited articles in the current research are review articles which focused on WTM and TI towards CRE. One reason for this is that the WTM and TI have become the subject area of interest for researchers from last few years because of their fruitful outcomes in terms of improved economic and environmental performance. Another reason behind this is that the implementation of WTM and TI are formidable for policy developing bodies and still needs perfect guidance for professional entail in operations.

(iii) Collaboration analysis: institutions and countries

Figure 4 depicts the number of publications by each institution, in which it can be seen that Ministry of Education China is the dominant institution in WTM research with TI in the context of CRE with having 29 articles, while Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tsinghua University, and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia are the pioneers in WTM research with TI in the context of CRE with having 16, 16, 15, and 13 articles respectively. On the contrary, The University of Hong Kong and National University of Singapore with 9 and 8 articles respectively have slightest mature network out of the highest contributing institutions.

Number of publications by institutions

Out of 95 countries which are contributing to our sample, the top 15 which are contributing most to our sample are mentioned in Table 3 and Fig. 5 . According to the results, China, India, USA, Malaysia, and Italy are those countries that have more focus on WTM and TI towards CRE and are pioneers in this research with 203, 178, 143, 74, and 69 articles respectively.

Top fifteen contributing countries

(iv) Coupling analysis for the clustering of data

Clustering is used to group the articles on the basis of similar properties to know and identify the research direction. VOSviewer software is used in the current study to employ bibliographic coupling analysis for data clustering. This analysis indicates the link between publications and cited references.

The following are the clusters of the articles CRE overview on TI and waste hierarchy: first cluster: conceptualization and implementation of CRE; second cluster: TI and WTM with in closed-loop SC; third cluster: CRE approach in plastic waste management. In each cluster, more than 12 top articles are listed (see Table 4 ). The detail on influencing articles and bibliographic coupling clusters are explained in the “Qualitative content analysis” section to uncover the research directions and main themes.

(v) Co-word analysis: identifying hotspots

The keywords used by the researchers in their research paper illustrate the main idea of the research. The co-word analysis can help in identifying research hotspots in research field on the basis of occurrence of words (Gao et al. 2020 ). The keywords list was cleaned properly, prior to co-occurrence analysis, only 2461 keywords were used in the analysis.

Core research trends and themes

The following research question is answered in the section explained below:

Q2: What are the prominent trends and themes of WTM and TI in CRE?

The results of text mining illustrate that studies on WTM and TI in the domain of CRE have focused on following research themes: e-Waste, CRE transition, plastic waste, construction and demolition waste management, lifecycle assessment, and ecological impacts, bio-based waste management, MSTW. Table 5 demonstrates the research themes and trends.

The demand for electronic and electrical products are increasing across the globe in such a situation the management of e-waste has become a priority in almost all the countries including developing and developed (Wu et al. 2021 ; Sharma et al. 2020 ). The management of e-waste is of great importance as in-effective management of e-waste can adversely affect the social life and environment. Most of the studies on e-waste management are on pathways towards CRE in e-waste management (Xavier et al. 2021 ), e-waste minimization (Dzombak et al. 2019 ), valorization of e-waste (Ottoni et al. 2020 ), household e-waste awareness (Attia et al. 2021 ), and E-waste reverse logistics for CRE (Islam and Huda 2018 ).

The 2nd theme explains how the linear model transitioned to circular model with specifically focus on TI and WTM. Incapable mechanism for sorting, collecting, and distribution of waste and in-sufficient technological infrastructure make transition towards CRE complex and long (Shpak et al. 2020 ). For instance, creating industrial symbiosis and synergies on the bases of substitution of raw material, recycled material, or by product among industrial sectors (Alvarez and Ruiz-Puente 2017 ), mismanagement in end-of-life product management (Okafor et al. 2020 ), recovering of energy from waste (Priyadarshini and Abhilash 2020 ) and TI (Khan et al. 2021b ), informal outlining of TI policies (Umar et al. 2021b ), and CRE policies (Johansson and Henriksson 2020 ; Khan et al. 2022a ) are some key challenges demonstrated in the literature towards implementation of CRE.

The increasing applications of plastic in businesses and social life have made WTM face many problems of ecological concerns such as limited recycling and pollution. The focused area in the context of plastic waste are explaining life cycle assessment of chemical recycling of plastic waste (Davidson et al. 2021 ), blockchain for plastic WTM (Steenmans et al. 2021 ), identifying key barriers in plastic recycling (Yin et al. 2021 ; Milios et al. 2018 ), responsibility of producer regarding plastic pollution in aquatic system (Chowdhury et al. 2021 ), recycling of polymers, plastic WTM strategies (Fletcher et al. 2021 ), evaluation of household recovery system and closing the loop of post-consumer plastic waste (Zhang et al. 2021f ; Hahladakis and Iacovidou 2019 ), and quality of recycled plastic waste and contamination in plastic recycling (Khan et al. 2021d ; Eriksen et al. 2018 ).

Construction and demolition waste which is generated during the construction process has been increasing across the globe (Kabirifar et al. 2020 ) and counted among the biggest waste stream (Gálvez-Martos et al. 2018 ). For green/sustainable operations, the waste generated through this stream must be recycled through green treatments (Jin et al. 2019 ). Researchers have conducted studies and developing strategies for managing this waste through circular principles (Esa et al. 2017 ; Khan et al. 2021d ; Khan et al. 2022b ), evaluation of barriers for effective deployment of CRE principles in Construction and Demolition WTM (Khan et al. 2; Mahpour 2018 ), application of TI in Construction and Demolition WTM (Li et al. 2020 ), attitude and behavior towards recycling of Construction and Demolition waste (Aslam et al. 2020 ).

The adoption of efficient WTM system in CRE is concentrated towards reducing of detrimental effects of waste generation on ecosystem and enhancing resource efficiency. Assessing the ecological effect of waste has always been an arduous challenge for providing policy framework and support to decision makers (Tsai et al. 2020 ). The major impediments and challenges of environmental evaluation within WTM are indicated through TMA results in lifecycle assessment and environmental impacts theme. For instance, textile recycling and reuse effect on environment (Sandin and Peters 2018 ). Land filling effect of MSTW on environment (Sauve and Van Acker 2020 ). How climate is effected through plastic waste (Kouloumpis et al. 2020 ), potential benefits of recycling (Gigli et al. 2019 ), ecological behavior of firms across globe towards WTM (Parajuly et al. 2020 ), municipal solid WTM (Torkayesh et al. 2021 ), lifecycle assessment model of end-of-life scenarios for WTM (Hou et al. 2018 ), and multi-waste management concept for CRE (Hidalgo et al. 2019 ).

From past few years, the generation of waste from household use and industrial activities are increasing across the globe (Namlis and Komilis 2019 ). According to Mallum et al. ( 2022 ), in 2016, 2.01 billion waste was generated across the globe which will increase in the years to come, becoming a global issue. The research on municipal WTM are more focused on recycling, reusing, and reducing practices in order to reduce waste and enhance the positive behavior of inhabitants (Sinthumule and Mkumbuzi 2019 ), providing funds for public to engage in municipal WTM (Shang et al. 2021 ; Petryk et al. 2019 ), measuring synergy among thermal treatments and recycling (Abis et al. 2020 ), generation of energy through municipal solid WTM (Valenzuela-Levi 2019 ), ecological influence of MSTW (Istrate et al. 2020 ), use of technology in municipal solid WTM and land filling (Nanda and Berruti 2021 ), and life cycle assessment of municipal solid WTM (Khandelwal et al. 2019 ).

From the results of text mining analysis, bio-based WTM was also found to be a main theme of WTM in CRE domain. The WTM of food posed a complex challenge in transition towards circular approach (Imbert 2017 ). Research work on this theme is chiefly focused on converting food waste into valuable resources (Tsai et al. 2020 ), bio-based CRE in organic WTM (Kaszycki et al. 2021 ), smart and advanced approaches for final disposal of food waste (Cecchi and Cavinato 2019 ), and bio-based active food packaging material (Asgher et al. 2020 ).

The results attained from TMA regarding research theme of TI and WTM in CRE enable mapping of TI and WTM areas about the articles published over years.

Qualitative content analysis

The bibliographic coupling analysis illustrates the clustering regarding TI and WTM in CRE domain (see Table 4 ). The significant and persuasive research papers in clusters are anatomized for content analysis in the current section.

First cluster: CRE overview on TI and waste hierarchy

The first cluster includes the influential research papers of the last 20 years; the details are the following: 2 articles were published during the year 2015, 1 in 2016, while 4 were in 2017, 2 in 2018, 1 in 2019, 2 in 2020, and 3 in 2021. Out of the articles that made this cluster 9 articles were from Journal of Cleaner Production, two articles from Bio resource Technology and Resources, Conservation & Recycling, one article each from Annals of Operations Research, Environmental Research, and Journal of Industrial Ecology. Iacovidou was the leading author, as appeared more than two times in the cluster.

The first group of articles in the cluster was the generic articles, whose findings can be applied to businesses and sectors. For instance, Van Ewijk and Stegemann ( 2016 ) provided the solution for barriers faced by waste hierarchy, and Iacovidou et al. ( 2017a ) develop the instruments for measuring and monitoring with the aim to reduce waste from materials for waste management. In recent years, researchers moved towards integrating TI for more sustainable management of waste operations (Khan et al., 2021a ; Shuhui et al. 2021 ).

The second group in the current cluster is highlighting the various vital industries. Out of the group articles, the most important WTM practices highlighted were the use of technologies in recovering municipal waste water (Liu et al. 2020 ); sewage waste treatment (Rajasulochana and Preethy 2016 ); recycling of glass (Sankar and Timo  2020 ), end-of-life e-waste management (Mayers et al. 2005 ), and recycling and reuse of textile (Sandin and Peters 2018 ). The illustrated articles in this cluster indicate that the waste must be changed to resource through using circular principles and deploying technologies. For instance, the sludge of sewerage can be used in production of energy and concrete (Rulkens 2008 ). Researchers also demonstrated that for improvement in zero waste system more technologies and waste-to-energy plants are needed to develop (Malinauskaite et al. 2017 ).

Second cluster: conceptualization and implementation of Circular economy

Most of the articles in cluster 2 are review papers and are on various outlooks such as geographical and historical which are the attempts to clarify and conceptualize CRE (Reike et al. 2018 ). According to researchers, WTM is emerged as the most related concept of CRE (Merli et al. ( 2018 ). In this line, impediments and drivers to TI for WTM in CRE domain are analyzed (De Jesus and Mendonça 2018 ; Pham et al. 2019 ). The remaining articles in the current cluster indicate the principles of CRE in various sectors such as construction (Adams et al. 2017 ), generation of energy from waste for CRE (Malinauskaite et al. 2017 ), and manufacturing industry (Lieder and Rashid 2016 ). The challenges regarding management of plastic waste are discussed in 4th cluster.

Third cluster: WTM in closed-loop supply chains

The mismanagement of waste caused severe environmental problems such as contamination of water, air, and land (Singh and Singh 2017 ) by effective execution of circular principles and valorizing WTM can be improved (Ferronato et al. 2019 ). In order to effectively manage and reduce solid waste and raw material for transition towards CRE, various impediments including budget, communication, employee, information technology and management with in supply chain must be managed (Shahbazi et al. 2016 ). The closed-loop supply chain facilitates WTM systems through forward and reserve logistics and effectively manages end of product life cycle in sustainable way (Shaharudin et al. 2017 ).

The design of product has a crucial role in term of recyclability and reparability in closed-loop supply chain (Krikke et al. 2003 ). The reuse and recycling of products are the best choices in reducing waste. The efficient management of product design regarding WTM and proper return management of products guarantees long-term sustainability. The use of TI in WTM process for providing online system to make appointments for collection of waste and monitoring performance within supply chain network was also effective (Gu et al. 2019 ). The adoption of TI also enabled design of closed-loop supply chains more transparent through providing interconnection and visibility in network. In recent years, e-waste management is critical challenge in WTM systems due to having adverse effects on social life and environment. Policy makers need to provide proper policy for e-waste management in unified way in context of closing the loop of supply chain (Shi et al. 2019 ).

Fourth cluster: CRE a pathway to manage plastic waste management

The alarming increase in plastic waste has pushed policy makers to provide effective strategies regarding management of plastic waste (Gill et al. 2021 ). European countries have set strict rules regarding plastic value chain, production, and consumption patterns in order to improve sustainability and adopted circular approach to reduce plastic waste (Foschi and Bonoli 2019 ). The plastic waste in form of packaging or products generated from household usage to be recycled was the top priority in transition to CRE (Khan et al.  2021a ; Eriksen et al. 2018 ) for reducing its adverse effect on environment, sea, and wildlife. The adoption of circular principles also help in reducing carbon foot print and resource depletion generated from plastic waste (Jambeck et al. 2018 ).

Studies on plastic WTM elaborated recycling of superior quality plastic material produces better quality as compared to low quality material, the researchers also stated a direct link between plastic waste and recycling (Faraca and Astrup 2019 ). From 2017, China had banned on import of low material plastic raw material in order to improve the WTM system and resource efficiency (Iacovidou et al. 2019 ). The scholars have also illustrated that in order to enhance the circularity of plastic waste and resource efficiency firms need to improve quality of output products as well as set targets for recycling process (Van Eygen et al. 2018 ). The transition towards CRE and closing the loop of plastic is challenging and could be paved through technological advancement and improving product design (Eriksen et al. 2019 ). Prieto ( 2016 ) indicated that governmental policy makers and regulators need to standardize the rule regarding plastic waste and bio-degrade plastic waste in order to facilitate CRE. Moreover, researchers have stated that the adoption of CRE practices is the best strategy to reduce plastic waste and is the necessity in order to maintain a sustainable environment.

Implications and future research directions

The implications of the current study are illustrated in the current section to answer the RQ3 and provide insight gained from text mining, qualitative content, and bibliometric analyses.

Q3: What are the future research orientation on WTM and TI towards the CRE transition?

After carefully analyzing the research studies on TI and WTM in CRE perspective, the following were the research gaps and the future research directions of the current study:

The implementation of TI in developed countries enabled them to improve their global WTM system towards a sustainable environment. For instance, the development of smart reverse system needs online system for monitoring and interaction among users for effect collection of waste, for this purpose IoT devices, were deployed for transparency and monitoring human activities and alert WTM centers to take decision timely, are the example of using TI in WTM system. However, research on the role of TI in WTM towards CRE is still less explored area and needs further clarification and justification especially in developing and under-developing countries. Therefore, moving towards effective adoption of TI in smart WTM system enhance sustainability and enable effective WTM process such as collection and separation. Minimizing the waste for improving environmental sustainability is timely and promising step and TI needed to be implemented to improve the WTM system towards CRE transition. Along with that, studies should be conducted on how humans and machines could interact to create value and long-term service to humanity within planetary boundaries in the context of industry 5.0.

As the two main streams of research regarding TI and WTM have gained momentous attention, firstly, the research on biosphere in CRE domain with the keywords (bio fuel, biochar, circular bio-economy, food waste, bio fuel) represents noteworthy research challenge which is needed to be studied to attain no or lesser waste in agricultural food sector. Secondly, plastic waste in recent years has gained increasing focus during COVID-19, where trade-offs between health safety of product and waste and environmental sustainability occur; these trade-offs still needed to be solved, optimized, and addressed by scholars. The resilience/flexibility of reverse supply chain can have a major role in responding the shortages or disruptions faced due to any future pandemic. More studies are encouraged to be held to provide a mechanism for managing the waste in times of disruption caused by any future pandemic.

Healthcare waste is also of great concern, as this type of waste contains infectious and hazardous material, which needs to be disposed sustainably. Deploying CRE models in healthcare especially dealing with clinical, pharmaceuticals, and medical waste is a great challenge which also needs greater engagements and efforts from various sectors. The core reason behind this is that the reusing or recovering and recycling of material in healthcare are more involved in hazardous, contaminated, and infectious sources that can render health risks to community. Based on results, research on WTM and TI in the context of CRE is still needed reliable and comprehensive research and policy framework regarding healthcare waste management. The research on healthcare sector is only limited to safely disposal of healthcare waste. Future studies are recommended to deploy TI for more advanced recycling and recovery of waste in healthcare sector. It is highly recommended that studies needed be held on how closed-looped supply chain can be managed in healthcare sector. Moreover, national plans for mitigating the waste generated and strategies for reusing non-hazardous waste to be drafted and provided with comprehensive discussion by the researchers.

The One Health approach is an integrated effort among interrelated sectors for environment and human health and linking food-producing organisms in order to attain health for environment, animals, and humans. However, research studies had conducted by the scholars on the effect of WTM on environment such as on textile recycling and reuse, MSTW management, and recovering resources from food waste, but less attention has been paid on human and animals health and wellbeing, specifically minimal research has conducted on WTM practices. Thus, it is recommended that future studies can be held on WTM by including One Health framework in policymaking and planning of waste for health promotion and disease prevention.

Conclusions

The current study is aimed to provide the map on TI and WTM research in the context of CRE for over two decades, explained the crucial research trends and themes, provide in-depth explanation about future research for better positioning, develop TI and WTM research in CRE, and map the evolution placed in the field over time. To achieve this, BMA, CTA, and TMA and mixed method approach were used to extract the information from the 1118 peer-reviewed journal articles published on Scopus from 2000 to 2021.

The results gained from the analyses indicate four clusters of TI and WTM in the context of CRE, including CRE perspectives on TI and waste hierarchy, conceptualization, and implementation of CRE, WTM in closed-loop supply chain, and CRE approach to plastic waste management. Along with that, the following main research themes of TI and WTM in the context of CRE were also identified including CRE transition, food waste, e-waste, municipal waste management, lifecycle assessment, and environmental effects, plastic waste, bio-based waste management, and construction and Demolition WTM which gained momentous in recent years as compared to liquid waste, carbon emission, and industrial ecology.

The present study findings elaborate the agenda of WTM and TI research and contribute considerably in positioning TI and WTM practices and activities align with CRE principles in the future. The landscape, map, and the prominent features of the WTM and TI research provided by the current study findings serve as a baseline for policy makers and practitioners and provide lead to future researchers to move towards CRE and support circular transition. Lastly, future directions on WTM and TI research to facilitate circular economy, human wellbeing, and sustainable environment were proposed. The future research direction provided in the current research help in (i) development of smart and sustainable WTM system through deploying TI and moving towards industry 5.0, (ii) establishing a framework that could help manage waste system without any disruption of future pandemic, and (iii) Consolidating the efforts of multidiscipline sectors in attaining ideal health of environment, animals and human through one health approach.

Following are the limitation of this study: Firstly, in the current study, data were clustered on the basis of bibliometric coupling, and it is recommended that future studies can use other data clustering techniques such as co-citation analysis. Secondly, this research has only considered Scopus database; future researchers can use both Scopus and Web of Science databases which will provide more in-depth detail in BMA. Lastly, this study has targeted only English language articles, and future studies can conduct non-English articles together with English articles to harmonize the findings of research.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available on reasonable request.

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This research is supported by the Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Spatial Information Engineering (NO. 20210218).

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Tanveer, M., Khan, S.A.R., Umar, M. et al. Waste management and green technology: future trends in circular economy leading towards environmental sustainability. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29 , 80161–80178 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-23238-8

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Toward a cleaner and more sustainable world: A framework to develop and improve waste management through organizations, governments and academia ☆

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Waste production is expected to reach 3.40 billion tons annually in 2050. To decrease its negative impacts on the environment generated by human activities, waste management (WM) aims to increase the products life cycle and reduce the use of energy and space. Thus, this work aims to propose a framework with actions to develop and improve WM in the Triple Helix (TH) sectors: organizations, governments, and academia. The framework was developed based on the benchmarking of the technical-scientific scenario and the opportunities and challenges of WM added to the authors' experiences. This study was conducted using a combined method of the literature review and content analysis of articles present in the Scopus database, patents identified in the Orbit database, and governmental actions. As a result, 32 actions have been proposed through the framework, distributed among the TH sectors. The countries analyzed were China, India, and the United States, which highlighted because of the h-index and number of patents published. The main scientific contribution of this work is to add empirical elements coming directly from public and private institutions to the theory about WM, forming a block of knowledge with characteristics closer to reality. The major applied contribution of this work is the proposition of actions to the TH sectors, enabling the development of solutions and technologies to improve WM.

Waste management; Waste; Environment; Triple helix; Framework.

1. Introduction

Waste generation rates are increasing in a worrying way around the world. Since 2016, cities have generated more than 2 billion tons of solid waste per year. With rapid population growth and urbanization, this generation is estimated to increase by 70%, with the potential to reach 3.40 billion tons by 2050. Thus, increasing waste production and inadequate waste management (WM) are drivers of disease vectors and global climate change ( Araújo et al., 2021 ; Espuny et al., 2021 ; World Bank, 2019 ).

The difficulties in WM have begun to intensify, especially after the industrial age when the extraction of resources and the production of goods were expanding to meet society's consumption needs. A range of products such as textiles and electronics, once treated as luxury items, has come to be regarded as everyday products. Production processes have become complex and often use composite and hazardous materials, which leads to the generation of several types of waste that can be harmful to the environment ( Ugwu et al., 2020 ; Zaman, 2015 ). These residues demand sustainable management, which avoids damage to the planet and does not compromise the supply of raw material to the supply chain of economic sectors, such as construction, food, clothing, and others ( Ugwu et al., 2020 ; Zaman, 2015 ).

Sustainability can be defined as providing for the needs of the present generation without interfering with the conditions for the survival of future generations ( Alhaddi, 2015 ; Elkington, 1994 ). The Triple Bottom Line framework, which includes the economic, social, and environmental pillars, can be used to measure the sustainable performance of the activities conducted by the organizations ( Alhaddi, 2015 ; Elkington, 1997 ). It is possible to relate to each of these pillars to WM. The activity performed by recyclers, who generate income by buying and selling waste, and a lean and efficient budget of public services for waste treatment and disposal are related to the economic pillar. Better hygiene conditions and a high life expectancy through a WM that avoids the contamination of society are related to the social pillar. The preservation of water and soil by strategically planning landfill areas that do not impact water table or produce methane gas by imposing explosion risks in the surroundings, contribute to the environmental pillar ( Tseng, 2011 ). Among the articles that involve solid waste in the context of sustainability, the main issues mentioned are finite natural resources and riches that can be exploited from the waste ( Pan et al., 2020 ; Tan et al., 2014 ).

The concept that waste is a pollutant is progressively changing to the idea that waste is a recoverable, reusable, recyclable resource, or even an energy source ( Laurent et al., 2014b ). The goals of WM are to protect people and the environment, increase the life span of products, and reduce the use of energy and space. These actions contribute to the reduction of negative impacts on the environment that occurs because of human activities ( Allesch and Brunner, 2014 ; Brunner and Rechberger, 2015 ; Laurent et al., 2014a ). Among the main residues and the ones most studied in the literature are: municipal solid ( Ghiani et al., 2014 ; Gupta et al., 2015 ; Yay, 2015 ), food ( Salemdeeb et al., 2017 ; Thi et al., 2015 ), hospital ( Windfeld and Brooks, 2015 ), construction and demolition ( Butera et al., 2015 ; Dahlbo et al., 2015 ), electro-electronic ( Sarath et al., 2015 ), and high-level radioactive ( Sellin and Leupin, 2014 ).

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is generated by residences, commercial establishments, industries, and public bodies. It is composed of items from street sweeping and daily use, such as product packaging and clothing, excluding waste from municipal wastewater treatment ( Yay, 2015 ; Liu et al., 2014 ). Knowledge of its composition is essential for the implementation of the most appropriate policies to reduce waste generation and to choose the most convenient processes for its treatment and disposal. Its composition and quantity vary according to location, climate, socioeconomic conditions, waste collection and disposal methods, and other factors ( Gupta et al., 2015 ; Vazquez et al., 2020 ; Yay, 2015 ). Through proper municipal solid waste management, the city becomes cleaner and less vulnerable to the spread of diseases. The effectiveness of the municipal solid waste management (MSWM) system can be an indicator of appropriate governance. Therefore, it increases the chances of receiving external investments by showing a reliable local government ( Wilson et al., 2015 ).

Food waste is the wastage that occurs during the food production and consumption phase, usually caused by retailers' mismanagement or consumers' bad habits ( Thi et al., 2015 ). The European Commission has developed guidelines through the food waste hierarchy law to indicate the best options for treatment and final disposal ( Figure 1 ) ( Salemdeeb et al., 2017 ).

In the food waste hierarchy, the sequence of priorities are: reduction, redistribution, recycling as animal feed, reuse, and as a last option, disposal in landfills.

In Figure 1 , it is determined that the rulers should take actions for reducing food waste; its redistribution to those who suffer from food insecurity, such as the homeless; its recycling as animal feed or use in composting; its recovery as energy through anaerobic digestion and its disposal to landfills ( Rastogi et al., 2020 ; Salemdeeb et al., 2017 ). It is worth noting that these guidelines must be adapted to regional or local contexts ( Eriksson et al., 2015 ).

Hospital Waste (HW) is the waste generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of humans or animals and can be infectious or non-infectious. The United States Medical Waste Tracking Act adds that HW can also be generated in research related to living beings or in the testing and production of biological drugs ( Windfeld and Brooks, 2015 ). Exposure of healthcare workers, waste handlers, patients, and the general community to HW can cause risks of contamination from diseases and injuries from the workplace. This type of waste can also lead to environmental pollution and degradation of the environment ( Makajic-Nikolic et al., 2016 ). The best way to mitigate these impacts is the separation of infectious from non-infectious HW. Infectious ones should be treated according to their specificity and non-infectious ones should be sent for treatment together with MSW ( Windfeld and Brooks, 2015 ).

Construction and Demolition Waste (C&DW) are generated in renovation activities and building new infrastructure. It can be generated from works performed by small families to large construction companies ( Dahlbo et al., 2015 ; Wu et al., 2017 ). This type of waste can be classified according to its chemical characteristics as inert and non-inert. The main difference between inert materials (such as concrete and brick) and non-inert materials (such as wood) is that in the first group, there is no solubility in water ( Wu et al., 2017 ). The main obstacles to recycling are the high availability and low cost of virgin raw materials, which decreases the demand for recycles and interest in developing businesses from recycling ( Dahlbo et al., 2015 ).

Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is the component and subassembly of electronic and electrical equipment that is considered obsolete or unwanted by users. It can come from telecommunications, lighting, and automatic systems ( Lu et al., 2014 ). This type of waste, besides containing valuable resources, such as noble metals and rare earth elements, has many toxic materials, such as heavy metals. The high generation and mismanagement of WEEE can cause risks to human health and the environment, and instability of the technological industry of this sector, due to the scarcity of mineral resources. Therefore, the implementation of recycling is essential for the preservation of human health, ecosystems, and natural resources ( Zeng et al., 2017 ).

High-Level Waste (HLW) is generated by reprocessing nuclear fuel after uranium and plutonium extraction ( Stefanovsky et al., 2016 ). Its management is principally concerned with the processing of HLW solutions for the recovery of valuable actinides such as uranium and plutonium; removal of minor actinides and other long-lived fission products ( Sengupta and Gupta, 2017 ). For the destination of this waste, geological disposal is conducted, which consists of isolating and containing radioactive material in such a way that there is no need for long-term monitoring by future generations and that there is a reduction of risks for human beings. The procedure is done through a system that isolates the waste from the biosphere for a long period to ensure that its concentrations in the atmosphere are insignificant compared to the natural level of radioactivity ( Sellin and Leupin, 2014 ).

There are some important studies on WM that use the literature review research method like this work. Among the most influential, Malinauskaite et al. (2017) have studied national MSW and waste-to-energy systems in the context of the circular economy in some European countries; Qambrani et al. (2017) have presented a review of the concepts involved in biochar production (charcoal) from the pyrolysis of biomass from cattle manure and feed waste, specifying its qualities and applications; Czajczyńska et al. (2017) have studied fast, intermediate, and slow pyrolysis of organic waste and mixtures of inorganic and organic household waste; Yong et al. (2016) have studied the more efficient use of energy from cleaner fuels and biofuels and WM; Rajaeifar et al. (2017) have identified the main difficulties of electricity generation from MSW.

This study differs from the above-mentioned studies in that it goes beyond a literature review, in other words, a comprehensive benchmarking is conducted that broadens the horizon of the theme. In this review, the development of patents, initiatives of startups, development of laws, governmental actions, and experience of the authors are added to increase the literature that fosters a more efficient WM. The novelty of this article is precisely the proposition of the framework based on the WM technical-scientific scenario, considering the spheres of the Triple Helix ( Figure 2 ). The Triple Helix contemplates the contributions of organizations, governments, and academia. This tripartite structure covers actions for a more favorable environment for innovation that amplifies and deepens the results of other studies ( Etzkowitz, 2003 ; Santos et al., 2021 ).

The Triple Helix Model is composed of Academia, Governments, and Organizations and their interactions aim to accelerate innovation and generate knowledge to solve contemporary challenges.

Organizations are the place of production of goods and services; governments are the source of legal guarantees among the interactions and exchanges between the other two sectors; and academia is an environment of creation of modern technologies and knowledge ( Etzkowitz, 2003 ). In this context, the research question that guided the development of this work is: what are the main actions that can be developed by organizations, governments, and academia for the application and improvement of WM? To answer it, the objective of this paper is to propose a framework based on the technical-scientific scenario that proposes actions to develop and improve WM in organizations, governments, and academia.

The proposition of this framework contributes to filling the following research gaps: the development of a framework to promote the implementation of WM ( Wilson et al., 2015 ); lack of appropriate strategic solid WM plans by rulers ( Kumar et al., 2017 ); and the need for decision-making methods that combine expert and stakeholder opinion in MSW ( Vučijak et al., 2016 ). Thus, the motivations for this article are twofold, and they are: to reduce the deficit and delay in treating solid waste in landfills; and to contribute to the reduction of disease contagion caused by accumulating garbage, improving the cleanliness and hygiene of urban areas. The results of this work contribute scientifically to add empirical elements from public and private institutions to the literature on WM, thus forming a new block of knowledge with characteristics like reality. The main applied contribution of this work was to provide actions to the sectors of the Triple Helix, enabling the development of solutions and technologies for improving WM, so that, these sectors work separately and jointly.

2. Research method

This study was conducted using the combined research methods of literature review and content analysis. The literature review was used to collect and evaluate existing materials on WM, aiding in the understanding of the subject and identifying existing research gaps ( Jupp, 2006 ). Content analysis was used to identify trends in WM publications based on systematic interpretation of data ( Nunhes et al., 2021 ). Thus, the combination of these two methods enables the proposition of policies and initiatives through the qualitative approach of evaluating publications, allowing to generate relevant insights that contribute to the development of the topic ( Snyder, 2019 , Bhatt et al., 2020 ). This literature review and content analysis of articles, patents, documents, and others, enables the interpretation and understanding of WM, allowing an elaboration of a framework for its development ( Costa et al., 2021 ).

The research was divided into five steps: I – Definition of the objectives and method; II – Definition of criteria, data collection, and data analysis; III – Research development; IV – Results and discussions; V – Conclusion. These steps are divided into phases and indicated in the methodological flow in Figure 3 .

The research method flow is composed of five phases. Phase1: Objectives and method definition; Phase 2: Research criteria definition, data collection, and organization; Phase 3: Technical-scientific scenario mapping; Phase 4: WM framework elaboration; Phase 5: Conclusion and final text writing.

In Step I, the research objectives and methods were defined. Step II was conducted in three phases: A - Search criteria definition; B - Data collection; C - Data Analysis. In Phase A, the search criteria were defined for the data collection conducted in the Scopus and Orbit databases. The articles used for the preparation of the technical-scientific scenario and the grouping of the challenges and research opportunities were taken from the Scopus database in April 2020, with the term "waste management" present in the title of the article, in English, and published in the period from 2015 to 2019. Scopus was chosen because it is the largest and best database for this article, providing metrics for citation analysis and covering most of the material available in other databases ( Elsevier, 2022 ; Santos et al., 2021 ; Oliveira et al., 2019 ). The patents selected for developing the technical-scientific scenario were selected from a search on the Orbit database in August 2020. This platform was chosen because it offers access to the largest accurate patent database, with over 100,000 users ( Questel, 2021 ). To select the patents, the term "waste management" was used in the title and object of the invention of the groups of patents published in the period from 2015 to 2019. This period was chosen for searches in both databases because it includes the latest technologies and most modern developments in WM. It can be noted that the patents and articles selected in this period already consider the innovations and theoretical references from previous years.

In Phase B, information was collected from 1956 articles in the Scopus database and 1816 patents on the Orbit platform that met the search criteria of Phase A. In Phase C, the information collected in Phase B was analyzed, with the objective to rank the main countries in relation to the number of patents published and the h-index, as shown in Figure 4 . The h-index is an important parameter to evaluate the quality of publications of authors, institutions, journals, and countries, considering the number of citations of each article. To calculate this parameter, it is checked whether “X” articles contain the same or a higher minimum number of “X” citations in each document ( Nunhes et al., 2021 ). Initially, the 10 countries with the most patents published and the 10 countries with the highest h-index were ranked. It is important to emphasize that countries with the same h-index, obtained the same score value, as can be seen in the case of the United States (US) and Spain (h-index 18 and 5 points, according to ranking). Then, the countries that were in both columns were identified and the index composed of the average of the positions between the Patent Position and H-Index Position variables was used. This logic considers the balance between the H-index and patent publication and has already been validated and successfully used by Nunhes et al. (2021) and Reis et al. (2021) .

The country ranking was developed to select three relevant countries, considering the average number of patent registrations and the H-index of scientific publications. According to this criterion, the selected countries were China, India, and the USA.

This index indicates that the lower the average value between the variables, the better positioned the country is, as observed in the Final Position Index in Figure 4 . It was identified that the top three countries had 40% of all patents published and were among the highest h-index. Considering these criteria, the selected countries were China, India, and the USA. Step III consists of the development of the research, which was conducted in three Phases: D - Identification of the technical-scientific scenario; E - Grouping and analysis of opportunities; F - Grouping and analysis of challenges. In Phase D, the content analysis was conducted to compile the main innovations and organizational, governmental, and academic initiatives of the selected countries to compose the technical-scientific scenario of WM based on the TH model. Official documents were analyzed, such as governmental websites, reports from national and international agencies of the selected countries. The articulation of this set of documents made it possible to systematize the framework for public and private authorities to develop the WM.

In Phase E and F, the opportunities for development and the challenges of WM were identified and grouped, respectively, based on the 30 most cited articles and their gaps, which were selected in Phase B ( Table 1 ).

Table 1

30 most cited articles about Waste Management.

The technical-scientific scenario, the opportunities and the challenges added to the experiences of the authors of this work subsidized the formulation of the framework for WM development (Step IV), as shown in Figure 5 .

The WM Development Framework proposals were elaborated based on critical analysis and benchmarking of the policies, strategies, and initiatives from industries, governments and universities of the top WM technical-scientific scenario countries.

Step IV was conducted in three phases. In Phase G, critical analyses were performed by the authors of this paper for the elaboration of the framework. In phase H, the main initiatives, opportunities, and challenges for developing WM were selected. In phase I, the actions proposed in the framework were discussed. Step V presents the fulfillment of the objectives proposed in this work, the main contributions, limitations, and suggestions for future work.

3. Research development

In this section, the development of the technical-scientific scenario and the opportunities and challenges of WM are presented, as per Figure 5 (Section 2- Research Method). This information contributes to the actions that will be presented in the Framework for Waste Management Development and Improvement (Section 4- Results and Discussion).

3.1. Technical-scientific scenario

The WM technical-scientific scenario presents the discussion of the results found in the countries that stood out most in the development of research and patent publications on the subject between 2015 and 2019. China, India, and USA were selected according to Figure 4 . They are the top three waste generating countries in the world ( Nanda and Berruti, 2021 ). The text is structured according to the sectors of the Triple Helix: organizations, governments, and academia contributing to the elaboration of the framework proposed by this work, according to Figure 5 .

3.1.1. China

China is the country with the second-highest patents published between 2015 and 2019 on WM and it is the second country that published the most scientific papers on the topic with the highest h-index.

In companies, the top three companies in producing patents on WM are Envac, ConvaTec, and Henan Dizhilyu Environmental Protection Technology ( Orbit, 2021 ). Envac is the company with the most patents published in WM in China, being the most innovative company in the waste collection industry in the world and the inventor of the pneumatic waste collection system for hospitals ( Envac, 2020a ). It provides intelligent WM systems for cities, hospitals, and airports ( Envac, 2020b ). Another technology developed by Envac is the vacuum waste technology that allows the collection to become sustainable, intelligent, and economical. After a user places a trash bag at the entrance of the electronic waste trash can, the waste is sucked through an underground pipe network to the waste collection terminal ( Envac, 2020c ). ConvaTec is a global medical products and technology company that created a connector system for patient urine and feces collection bags. This connector system features a simple tube connection method that directs the body waste stream into an external waste collection bag, minimizing its exposure to the environment ( Jin et al., 2019 ; Odonkor et al., 2020 ). The waste collection solutions developed by Envac and ConvaTec save an expressive number of resources, since the residual materials from the human body require products such as diapers, which are discarded after use, or hospital basins that are transported internally to dispose of the fluids, becoming exposed with potential contamination and requiring washing. In populous countries like China, with continued urban growth, the implementation of these technologies becomes even more important ( Mian et al., 2017 ). Henan Dizhilyu Environmental Protection Technology has created a separation device for plastic waste treatment systems, featuring a conveyor belt, screening system, and wheels for crushing the material. This device avoids plastic waste and reduces the energy expended during the process ( Zhentang and Hualong, 2018 ).

Besides, the startups WeChat, Baidu, and Alipay have helped people correctly classify waste by improving search engines that identify which waste is wet, dry, toxic, or recyclable. Alipay, Alibaba's electronics payment affiliate, has a database of more than four thousand types of correctly classified waste and an app that helps users sell their recyclable materials. In addition to supporting families in disposing of waste correctly, these three startups are producing software applications to help some residential complexes in Shanghai to use QR codes. They can trace the origin of waste to make residents aware of separating waste correctly and receiving a fee for correct disposal. Each residence attaches a unique QR code to their trash bags for later tracking at the waste management station. In this way, it is possible to develop corrective actions with families that do not pay attention to the adequate separation ( Liao, 2019 ). The adoption of these technologies enables an increase in recycled items; personalized guidance for citizens who have difficulty adhering to disposal protocols; and provides opportunities for income generation from waste ( Ferri et al., 2015 ).

Regarding government initiatives in China, a plan has been created for proper WM that sets strategic goals, tasks, and measures for economic and social development for the period 2015–2020. It addresses food waste control and management of municipal, agricultural, and hazardous solid waste ( People’ s Republic of China, 2016 ). The Cleaner Production Promotion Law (CPPL) aims to increase the efficiency of resource use rate throughout the production process, reduce and avoid the generation of pollutants and promote the sustainable development of the economy and society ( People’ s Republic of China, 2003 ). To promote CPPL by encouraging the circular economy, a law for proper waste management has been enacted to achieve sustainable development to reduce, refuse, and recycle ( People’ s Republic of China, 2009 ). In 1995, the Law on Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Wastes was enacted to preserve human health and promote ecological safety. With this law, the state encourages scientific research and development of technologies for the adequate management of solid wastes with resources ( People’ s Republic of China, 2005 ).

The first urban regulation in China applied to MSW reduction, delivery, collection, transportation, treatment, and disposal activities was enacted in the city of Shanghai in 2019 ( Shanghai Municipal People’ s Government, 2019 ). To ensure the implementation of this policy, publicity actions were conducted through posters and videos, school education, and volunteers were available at the collection points to assist in the classification of MSW. An incentive system called Green Accounts was also adopted, which synchronizes the smartphone with a card that registers all the correct waste classifications and provides credits to the citizen who disposes of his waste. The credits can be exchanged for products such as food and tickets to tourist attractions ( Zhou et al., 2019 ). In Shanghai, intelligent waste trash cans are used to perform automatic waste sorting, reduce the volume of environmental sanitation work, save expenses, improve environmental awareness, and thereby increase the efficiency of the country's resource use ( Changgang et al., 2017 ). The government financial incentive practices have been an initiative adopted by many countries on environmental issues, although they lack legal detail ( Martek et al., 2019 ). China's Department of Solid Wastes and Chemicals, under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), conducts solid waste, chemical, and heavy metal pollution control; develops and implements policies, plans, laws, administrative regulations, departmental rules, standards, and relevant specifications on chemicals and solid waste; and implements environmental management systems ( MEE, 2018 ).

In academia, publications of authors and research and education institutes that excel in WM were analyzed. As for the authors, the most prominent are Dr. Mustafa Ali, Prof. Dr. Gordon Huang, Ms. Xiujuan Chen, and Prof. Dr. Jinhui Li. Mustafa Ali has conducted research that addresses the major problems facing hospital WM in developing countries. These studies signal that safer management of this waste requires dynamic policymaking and government action to promote public awareness ( Ali et al., 2017 ). A study of Mustafa that involves authors from universities in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands found that the combined method of waste and carbon footprint indicators can indicate shortcomings in WM ( Ali et al., 2019 ). Gordon Huang and Xiujuang Chen have developed a study that proposes a mixed-number hierarchical fuzzy programming framework applied to MSW management in Beijing, China ( Cheng et al., 2017b ). In this study, there is also the identification of the significant impacts of hierarchy and heterogeneities of management practices and the need to analyze the problems caused by the lack of proper planning of solid waste management ( Cheng et al., 2017a ). Jinhui Li has conducted a study on the need to improve recycling technology for electrical and electronic waste because the risk of environmental pollution increases without the right strategies and operations, especially for heavy metals ( Zeng et al., 2017 ).

Regarding research and education institutes that highlight WM are the Tsinghua University, North China Electric Power University, and Chinese Academy of Sciences. Tsinghua University operates the Beijing Key Laboratory of Radioactive Waste Treatment ( Tsinghua University, 2020 ). Since 1984, the institution has specialized in teaching and researching technologies for the management, treatment, and disposal of hazardous waste, industrial solid waste, and domestic waste. The Division of Solid Waste Management at the School of Environment of Tsinghua University is one of the first institutions engaged in research on the theory and technology of waste reduction, recovery, and decontamination in China ( School of Environment Tsinghua University, 2010 ). North China Electric Power University has the Energy and Environment Research Center, which develops cost-effective and innovative technologies and strategies to face the most critical energy and environmental challenges ( North China Electric Power University, 2018 ). To meet part of the country's need for sustainable energy, the university has created the first Renewable Energy School, which includes the Biomass Energy Research Center ( North China Electric Power University, 2016 ). The Chinese Academy of Sciences has the Research Center of Eco-Environmental Sciences, which includes the Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Recycling that aims to develop new theories and technologies for recycling. It has researched polymer waste, bio-waste, construction waste, sewage sludge, and municipal solid waste ( Research Center of Eco-Environmental Science Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2015 ). Chinese universities should further increase the solutions directed to organic waste, especially household waste because the country mostly generates this type of waste ( Liu et al., 2020 ). The solutions identified around energy production from biomass are an interesting solution that can reconcile a more appropriate treatment for food waste with the development of a strong energy matrix ( Wijekoon et al., 2021 ).

The Chinese government has instituted the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities to improve the investment systems with scientific research by making them more efficient so that they can innovate and promote their best talents ( Tang et al., 2011 ). Other research funding that highlighted is the National Natural Science Foundation of China, which conducted the project "Impacts of human activity on the environment and disaster", whose main issues analyzed were characteristics, interaction, and safe disposal of industrial and MSW ( NSFC, 2018 ).

3.1.2. India

India is the fifth country with most patents published between 2015 and 2019 on waste management and is the country that has published the most scientific papers on the topic, with the second-highest h-index.

In organizations, the top three companies in producing patents on waste management are Envac, ConvaTec, and FLSMIDTH ( Orbit, 2021 ). Envac is also active in India and is the most prominent company in patent production between 2015 and 2019 in this country. It has created a method for compacting waste that consists of collecting and transferring it to a parallelepiped-shaped container that is positioned diagonally. This container favors the action of gravity and uses the weight of the inserted waste to make it possible to store more waste ( Törnblom, 2019 ). ConvaTec is also active in India and has a medical device that allows the drainage of physiological secretions. A container stores the waste and a system of tubes that lead to a collection reservoir for minimal contamination of this fluid on the external surface ( Tszin et al., 2019 ). FLSMIDTH has developed a horizontal filter press that separates liquids from solids in steel frame chambers. In this structure, the sludge is pumped under high pressure separating the liquid phase from the solid phase through a cloth filter. When the separation is concluded the feed pumps are automatically turned off ( Neumann, 2017 ). FLSMIDTH and ConvaTec's products promote solutions that enable more effective solid waste and effluent separation, contributing to safer waste treatment and recovery ( Dastjerdi et al., 2021 ).

In addition to these, the startup Skrap helps companies adopt sustainable practices and solutions aimed at zero waste in their offices through integrated waste management. Services provided include assessing the amount and type of waste generated in the facilities; designing a customized waste segregation infrastructure; installing a composting system; managing the collection of recyclable materials; training of cleaning team and food suppliers on waste management; and conducting waste audits to review progress in adopting sustainable practices and introducing corrective measures. Workshops and campaigns are also organized to promote employee participation in sustainability initiatives in the workplace ( Skrap, 2018 ). Consulting focused on environmental issues should be promoted in the corporate environment, even if the economic results are not as imminent as in the modalities aimed at production processes ( Kubota et al., 2020 ).

India's government enacted The Environment (Protection) Act in 1986, which aims to improve and protect the quality of the country's ecosystem by reducing environmental pollution ( Republic of India, 1986 ). The Solid Waste Management Rules made mandatory the segregation and storage of waste generated directly at the source, the inclusion of waste pickers in WM, and the implementation of a collection system by consumer goods companies that use non-biodegradable packaging. According to this law on solid waste management, the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change was responsible for monitoring its implementation in the country, creating specific regulatory instruments for the adequate management of plastic, electro-electronic, construction and demolition, biomedical, and hazardous waste ( Republic of India, 2016 ).

The Hazardous Substances Management Division is part of India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and aims to promote the management and safe use of hazardous substances, including chemical products and wastes, to prevent harm to human and animal health and the environment. The activities of division encompass chemical safety and management of hazardous, electronics, municipal solids, plastics, biomedical, and fly ash waste ( Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, 2017 ).

To support state and local governments, the Ministry of Urban Development of India's Government has created the Centre of Excellence to Centre for Environment and Development to develop strategies and frameworks for solid waste and wastewater management ( India Waste Management Portal, 2014 ). One of these strategies is to separate waste at a source by storing it in different colored waste trash cans that are made available to households by Urban Local Bodies ( Centre for Environment and Development, 2011 ). These actions are important to decrease the number of heavy metals in the organic fraction of waste since in Indian regions there is a significant percentage of this contamination present ( Srivastava et al., 2020 ).

In academia, the most prominent authors who published articles on WM in the period 2015 to 2019 were Prof. Dr. Rajiv Ganguly, Prof. Dr. Sukha Ranjan Samadder, Dr. Pooja Yadav, and Mr. Nishesh Kumar Gupta. Rajic Ganguly has conducted a study that reports on existing solid waste management practices in four major cities of Himachal Pradesh, India. It has identified that initiatives and corrective measures need to be taken by the municipalities to better improve solid waste management, including the purchase of new equipment for segregation and recycling facilities, proper maintenance of waste collection vehicles, and a system for leachate collection and removal ( Sharma et al., 2018 ). Sukha Ranjan Samadder and Pooja Yadav have developed a study to evaluate the possible environmental impacts of existing plastic waste management in the city of Dhanbad, India. In this study, it has identified that formal and informal structures for the collection and segregation of plastic waste should work together to maximize the recycling of these materials, and recycling industries should use alternative energy sources instead of thermal energy to make the recycling process more sustainable ( Aryan et al., 2019 ). Nishesh Kumar Gupta has conducted a study on the developments in the literature regarding biosorption for nuclear waste management. Biosorbents of bacterial, fungal, algal, plant, and animal origin are used for heavy metal retention. Its large-scale application is expected soon because it is one of the most economical methods for nuclear waste treatment ( Gupta et al., 2018 ).

Research and education institutes that excel in WM are the Jaypee University of Information Technology, Indian Institute of Technology Indian School of Mines, and National Institute of Technology Rourkela. The Jaypee University of Information Technology has the Department of Civil Engineering, where there is research on solid waste management ( JUIT, 2020a ). In this institution, there is also the Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, which develops research on bioremediation of electronic and municipal solid waste ( JUIT, 2020b ). The Indian Institute of Technology Indian School of Mines has operated the Center of Societal Mission since 2015. This center is part of the Government of India's National Initiative, which connects institutes of higher education with local communities to accelerate sustainable growth. At this center, a program cleans the homes, streets, and surrounding areas of participating villages, making the population aware of proper waste disposal. It applies the use of bio-waste, plastic waste, and wastewater ( IIT (ISM), 2020 ). The National Institute of Technology Rourkela has a Department of Civil Engineering that develops solutions for India's key sustainability challenges. In this department, there is research on wastewater management, air pollution, and solid waste management ( NIT Rourkela, 2019 ).

The Department of Science and Technology of the Government of Kerala has a research fund to support scientific and laboratory infrastructure in colleges, university departments, and research centers. It also supports young researchers to undertake projects and activities in the field of science and technology ( Government of Kerala, 2020 ). The University Grants Commission is a statutory organization of India's government that provides funds and coordinates, determines, and enforces the maintenance of quality standards of education in universities in India ( University Grants Commission, 2020 ). This commission has guidelines for universities to adopt policies and practices to replace plastic waste with other more environmentally friendly materials ( UGC, 2019 ). Because India is a complex country, it is important that education institutions seek solutions for WM segregation along with raising the awareness of their citizens to increase the percentage of waste processing ( Paul and Paul, 2021 ).

3.1.3. United States

The United States is the second country with the most patents published between 2015 and 2019 on WM and the third country that has published the most scientific papers on the topic, with the fifth-highest h-index.

In organizations, the three major companies in the production of patents on WM are Rubicon, ConvaTec, and Envac ( Orbit, 2021 ). Rubicon is the top company in patent production between 2015 and 2019 in the United States. It has created a system that generates and optimizes the best waste collection routes through a GPS-based location device that includes the necessary stops of the collection vehicle ( Rodoni, 2019 ). ConvaTec has developed an ostomy bag system for collecting waste from an opening to the outside of the human body through the abdominal wall. Ostomy is a surgery that removes part of the bladder or small or large intestine. To deodorize the gases in the body's waste, these bags have a filter system ( Oberholtzer and Lesko, 2019 ). Envac has registered the same patents in the United States as in China and India.

Besides these, the startup TerraCycle enables the environmentally correct collection and disposal of waste. TerraCycle's Zero Waste Box program allows for the recycling of the inorganic waste in the USA that normally has its destination in landfills. The user or company chooses the type of waste they want to recycle, buys the appropriate sized box on TerraCycle's website, collects the waste and mails it to the startup to be recycled ( TerraCycle, 2020 ). TerraCycle's business has significant importance in developed countries since the percentage of the electro-electronic waste is high and has a high impact on environmental contamination ( Nanda and Berruti, 2021 ). Apeel Sciences is a startup that has created a technology that makes the fruit take longer to spoil. This technology allows a thin shell of edible plant material to form on the surface of the fruit, delaying the factors that cause spoilage ( Apeel Sciences, 2019 ).

The U.S. government has enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which establishes guidelines for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. This act gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to control the process of WM by developing regulations, guidelines, and policies. It ensures the management of solid and hazardous waste, and the creation of programs that encourage the reduction of waste directly from the source and its reuse ( EPA, 2020 ).

In the United States, twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have at least one mandatory recycling law. The types of waste most impacted by these laws are lead-acid batteries, used oil, glass, metal and plastic containers, foil, and cathode-ray tubes. Regarding the disposal of solid waste in facilities present in the states, such as landfills and incineration, only the state of Montana has no waste that is banned from being disposed of at these sites. The most banned wastes in the states are lead-acid batteries, used oil, whole tires, untreated infectious, and cathode-ray tubes ( Northeast Recycling Council (NERC), 2020 ). The United States is supported by a strong regulatory agency and the institution of state laws focused on solid waste because it is a country of continental proportions and with strong federalism ( Lima et al., 2014 ).

In academia, the most prominent authors publishing articles on WM from 2015 to 2019 were Prof. Dr. Morton A. Barlaz, Dr. James William Levis, Prof. Dr. Donald Huisingh, and Prof. Dr. John J. Boland. Morton A. Barlaz and James William Levis have developed a study using a life cycle assessment that identifies the environmental implications of food waste management policies in the United States. It has indicated that it is beneficial to consider the characteristics of food waste, such as the number of nutrients, to develop policies related to its final destination ( Hodge et al., 2016 ). The retired professor from the University of Tennessee Donald Huisingh has conducted a study covering the topics of biofuel development, carbon emission reduction, and WM. This study signal that international trade can reduce global environmental pressures by importing products manufactured with lower fossil carbon emissions and less water consumption than in domestic industries ( Yong et al., 2016 ). John J. Boland has conducted a study that analyzes the implementation of solid waste policies in Kathmandu, Nepal. This study has identified that new policies are developed without the effective implementation of their predecessors, and the government does not present more current instruments to address the problems of solid waste management. Therefore, the creation and enforcement of local codes and the commitment of the central government are necessary to allow the free exercise of the policies created ( Dangi et al., 2017 ).

Regarding education and research institutes that excel in WM are Ohio State University, NC State University, and Yale University. The Ohio State University has an initiative in which all events at the institution aim at zero waste. There is an indication of what materials are needed for this and a simulation of the timeline to be used for this type of event ( OSU, 2020 ). An example is Ohio Stadium, which is the largest stadium in the USA that recycles, reuse, and composts at least 90% of the waste generated ( Ohio State Buckeyes, 2020 ). NC State University holds waste and recycling events for students to make them aware of the importance of WM, provides WM services to be requested by departments, and a guide to what waste for recycling is accepted in trash cans of the institution ( NCSU, 2020a ). The university has NC State's Compost Facility and Research Cooperative, which is a place to compost waste on campus and, a reuse program to extend the life cycle of products present at the university, such as sports equipment and computers ( NCSU, 2020b ). Yale University has an Environmental Affairs Section that is responsible for managing the disposal of hazardous waste on campus. Those who generate them are responsible for their proper collection, handling, labeling, and storage in their work areas ( Yale University, 2020 ). Regarding the execution of management plans within the university environment, there are universities with different budgets and staffing levels. Institutions that do not have a good structure have difficulties conducting successful implementations of waste collection and treatment. However, the provision and signage of waste garbage cans is a low investment and fundamental to any effective WM plan in the university environment ( Ebrahimi and North, 2017 ).

The National Science Foundation subsidizes research and education in most fields of science and engineering through grants and cooperative agreements with universities, companies, and research organizations in the United States ( NSF, 2020 ). One of its funded studies indicates that to increase the detour of waste from landfills in a cost-effective manner and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is necessary to transform waste into energy, separate mixed waste, and improve its collection ( Jaunich et al., 2019 ). The National Natural Science Foundation of China, already discussed in section 3.1.3 , is the fund that most has financed studies at universities in the United States in partnership with universities in China.

3.2. Scientific opportunities and challenges for waste management

This topic will present the opportunities and challenges of research on WM, which will assist in the construction of the development framework.

3.2.1. Opportunities for waste management development

The opportunities for WM development were grouped according to their similarities based on the research gaps are indicated in Table 1 . The authors and their respective clusters are shown in Table 2 .

Table 2

Clusters of waste management development opportunities.

The cluster "Development of tools, systems, and methods for WM" includes opportunities to improve the collection, sorting, and infrastructure for diverse types of waste that are adapted to the realities of different countries and companies. According to Kumar et al. (2017) , the problems associated with waste become more acute as the size of communities increases and this fact provides opportunities for decentralized WM by the informal sector. The development of new WM systems and facilities assist in improving this scenario, making the entire process of its management more sustainable.

The cluster "Development of modern technologies for waste treatment" refers to the opportunities that can be realized in different countries and aimed at all stages of WM, consisting of generation, collection and transportation, treatment, and final disposal. According to Malinauskaite et al. (2017) , the development of energy from municipal waste is limited in some countries due to the lack of appropriate technology available. Although such limitations offer great opportunities for research and technological improvements, there is a lack of innovative studies that fit the local conditions of each country.

The changing pattern of the waste composition emphasizes the importance of segregation for the successful operation of WM facilities ( Gupta et al., 2015 ). To be able to study the trends of waste quantity and characteristic change for improving WM, the Cluster "Utilization of statistical tools and experimental methods for waste collection process analysis and improvement" presents the opportunity to research with significant waste samples to generate more reliable results. In the experimental part, one can contribute to the decision-making process for the use of fast pyrolysis, aimed at bio-oil production, or slow pyrolysis, for charcoal production.

The sustainable management of increasing amounts of waste has become a major social and environmental concern because its improper management results in public health and safety problems ( Yay, 2015 ). Therefore, the Cluster "Proposition new sustainable practices and insertion of the existing ones in WM" is a research opportunity that aims to create throughout the WM process sustainable practices and apply existing practices such as waste separation direct from the source and energy generation from biomass, to decrease waste and contamination caused by their activities.

3.2.2. Waste management challenges

Waste management challenges were identified in the 30 most cited articles ( Table 1 ) on the topic and then grouped according to their similarities. These groups with their respective authors are shown in Table 3 .

Table 3

Clusters of waste management challenges.

The Cluster "Unreliable Information" indicates that the articles that compose it identified a lack of reliable data regarding the composition, indicators, generators, and WM to make more accurate diagnoses. According to Brunner and Rechberger (2015) , obtaining reliable waste information is critical to WM. However, data mining and processing involve considerable costs, often resulting in superficial and uncertain information that negatively impacts proper WM.

The challenges of the cluster "Deficient Budget and Urban Structure" show the inadequacy of WM structures to the available budget. It includes the lack of policies, collection, and control of WM due to operational problems. According to Thi et al. (2015) , developing countries have low budgets for segregation activities and waste treatment facilities, making it difficult to operationalize WM and achieve good environmental outcomes. To solve this problem, governments should set specific targets to reduce waste generation, provide budgets for adequate waste treatment infrastructure, and strictly monitor their implementation. Once facilities are completed, they must institute and monitor waste reduction targets and implement legislative regulations on WM.

The cluster "Low alignment among stakeholders" represents the divergence of interests related to proper WM among stakeholders, which is an additional barrier in this management. According to Soltani et al. (2015) , the synergistic participation of stakeholders in the decision-making process is one of the main elements for sustainable WM. To this end, optimization tools can be used to help stakeholders make decisions by consensus based on well-defined criteria, such as multicriteria decision analysis.

The challenge "Lack of regulation applied to waste" contemplates the lack of effective legislation that considers the several types of waste and how they should be treated in the recycling process. According to Windfeld and Brooks (2015) , governments should standardize and disseminate the definitions of the main types of waste, and define the place and process for their disposal, avoiding illegal dumping. It is also necessary to support the development of solutions to reduce the production of the main types of waste.

The challenge "Negative environmental impacts" contemplates environmental pollution from the production, collection, and destination of several types of waste. According to Miezah et al. (2015) , the heterogeneity of waste hinders its use as a raw material. Therefore, there is a need for its fractionation before undergoing any treatment process. According to Sarath et al. (2015) , the development of suitable options for waste treatment and recycling designed based on specific user groups, for example, the reconditioning and reuse of waste such as electronics, can lead to its decrease in landfills and reduce negative environmental impacts.

4. Results and discussions

This section presents the Framework for WM Development and Improvement built from the elaboration of the technical-scientific scenario, the identification of research opportunities and challenges, and the authors' experience ( Table 4 ). It contains the proposals of actions for WM based on the Triple Helix.

Table 4

Framework for waste management development and improvement.

According to Table 4 , the propositions of the "Organizations" sector were structured in the domains "Technology" and "Services and Infrastructure". The actions present in "Technology" aim to automate WM and treatment and make them more efficient. In addition to the technologies identified in this study, it was possible to verify advanced experimental studies to adopt sensors with radio waves to manage truck and landfill overcrowding, providing information in real time for the reallocation of waste to other structures ( Akram et al., 2021 ). Another action being considered is the use of bioreactor landfills, which evenly distributes leachate throughout the landfill, accelerating the biodegradation of organic waste and enabling the production of gas energy ( Nanda and Berruti, 2021 ). In "Services and infrastructure", the actions prioritize the systematization of collection and offer better sanitary conditions to collaborators who handle the waste. One possibility that companies must contribute to waste infrastructure is the development of public-private partnerships, in which organizations invest in the facilities. However, the investing company has the right to explore the commercialization of recyclable materials and to undertake the production of energy based on waste ( Batista et al., 2021 ).

In the "Governments" sector, the propositions are around the domains "Public policies and legislation" and "Strategies and incentives to raise awareness of correct WM practice". In the domain "Public policies and legislation", the focus is on the improvement of imprecise laws on the waste that can cause misinterpretation; on the attention directed to specific waste with high degradation potential; and on the encouragement of the participation of informal recyclers in the solid waste management process. Assuah and Sinclair (2021) identified that although there are a certain number of laws regulating WM, there is also a need for creation of enforcement tools for these laws. There are examples where people and companies are not punished for disposing of their waste in inappropriate places. If the community does not trust the enforcement of these laws and have no concerns of legal and financial consequences, a culture of disrespect to corrective instruments is created. In the second domain, the priority is the guidance and encouragement of correct waste disposal by using high-tech software and equipment. In a study conducted in Indonesia, there was a significant correlation between population involvement in household WM training with people's access to education and technology ( Asteria and Haryanto, 2021 ). Loizia et al. (2021) emphasize that the lack of incentive from the authorities significantly decreases citizens' participation in WM strategies, and those measures such as tax reduction or even making available coupons to be used in cinema and theaters have proven positive.

In the "Academia" sector, the domains are structured into "Research and Development" and "Awareness Raising Activities and university extension". “Research and Development" emphasize the adoption of sustainable solutions and technologies for treating waste at the end of the chain, avoiding its disposal in landfills. This domain is significant to place WM in the context of the circular economy and to support international collaboration to achieve the sustainable objectives proposed by the UN (UN-SDGs). To this end, research is recommended to develop policies aimed at the decentralization of waste systems, improvement in supply chain localization, and actions that develop recycling and green recovery ( Assuah and Sinclair et al., 2021 ). In "University awareness and extension activities" the development of sustainable practices in WM on school premises is proposed, encouraging other sectors of society to reduce waste generation. Although universities have more funds available for research activity, university extension programs (which are also known as the third academic mission) should favor actions aimed at WM. With the support of universities, it is possible to draw up plans such as the treatment and disposal of electronic waste and development of facilities that increase the efficiency of sewage networks, supporting the universal distribution of sanitation ( Renault et al., 2016 ).

The result of the actions of these elements of the Triple Helix can be enhanced from the synergy of their work together. The "Academia" can improve waste treatment laboratories and advanced research projects through financial support from "Governments" and "Organizations". "Governments" and "Organizations" can work together with "Academia" to develop and implement technological solutions in waste collection and final disposal. "Organizations" and "Academia" can work simultaneously to gather information to support WM plans prepared by the "Governments". These and other actions could contribute to the improvement of WM. Rowan and Casey (2021) note that integrated actions by the Triple Helix are an alternative that mobilizes several important interlocutors to reduce pollution and environmental impacts. The government can financially support training and the development of green companies. This support should be provided with the support of academic institutions, which can share technological facilities and provide specialized training.

5. Conclusion

This work allowed the development of a framework with recommendations that aim at the improvement of the WM from the reduction, collection, and transport, recycling, recovery, treatment, and disposal of waste. The framework was elaborated based on the actions of the organizations, governments, and academia, on the opportunities and challenges identified in the literature and on the contribution of the authors. Thus, it was possible to answer the research question and achieve the proposed objective.

The main scientific contribution of this work was to add empirical elements from public and private institutions to the literature on WM, thus forming a new block of knowledge with characteristics like reality. The main applied contribution of this work was to provide actions to the sectors of the Triple Helix, enabling the development of solutions and technologies for improving WM, so that these sectors work separately and jointly.

The limitations of this study are related to the search criteria and database used, which if changed, could result in different countries, thus modifying the list of articles, educational institutions, organizations, and patents to be analyzed. Furthermore, the addition of new countries would allow a set of new propositions to be added to the framework proposed in this work. For future studies, it is suggested to modify these search parameters and use different databases, so that new scenarios and actions can be added to this framework. It is also suggested that the technical-scientific scenario be developed for specific segments such as municipal, food, and hospital waste; circular economy; and waste management infrastructure for rural areas since these are themes that require more in-depth study.

Declarations

Author contribution statement.

Rafaela Garbelini Anuardo, Maximilian Espuny: Conceived and designed the experiments; Performed the experiments; Analyzed and interpreted the data; Contributed reagents, materials, analysis tools or data; Wrote the paper.

Ana Carolina Ferreira Costa: Performed the experiments; Wrote the paper.

Otávio José Oliveira: Conceived and designed the experiments; Analyzed and interpreted the data.

Funding statement

This work was supported by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brazil (CAPES) – Financial Code 001, CNPq – Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico Tecnológico – (312538/2020- 0) and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) [Grant number 2019/23998-3].

Data availability statement

Declaration of interests statement.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

No additional information is available for this paper.

☆ This article is a part of "ICEEE 2021" Special issue.

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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Resources for Students and Educators

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Planet protectors club, teach english, teach about the environment, science fair fun, learning by doing: students take greening to the community, the quest for less: activities and resources for teaching k-8, tools to reduce waste in schools, pack a waste free lunch.

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The Life of a Soccer Ball

Learn about the life cycle of a soccer ball  - from obtaining raw materials through manufacture, packaging, distribution, useful life, and disposal. Also available in Spanish.

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• Students and Educators

Essay on Waste Management for Students and Teacher

500+ essay on waste management.

Essay on Waste Management -Waste management is essential in today’s society. Due to an increase in population, the generation of waste is getting doubled day by day. Moreover, the increase in waste is affecting the lives of many people.

For instance, people living in slums are very close to the waste disposal area. Therefore there are prone to various diseases. Hence, putting their lives in danger. In order to maintain a healthy life, proper hygiene and sanitation are necessary. Consequently, it is only possible with proper waste management .

The Meaning of Waste Management

Waste management is the managing of waste by disposal and recycling of it. Moreover, waste management needs proper techniques keeping in mind the environmental situations. For instance, there are various methods and techniques by which the waste is disposed of. Some of them are Landfills, Recycling , Composting, etc. Furthermore, these methods are much useful in disposing of the waste without causing any harm to the environment.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Methods for Waste Management

Recycling – Above all the most important method is the recycling of waste. This method does not need any resources. Therefore this is much useful in the management of waste . Recycling is the reusing of things that are scrapped of. Moreover, recycling is further converting waste into useful resources.

Landfills – Landfills is the most common method for waste management. The garbage gets buried in large pits in the ground and then covered by the layer of mud. As a result, the garbage gets decomposed inside the pits over the years. In conclusion, in this method elimination of the odor and area taken by the waste takes place.

Composting – Composting is the converting of organic waste into fertilizers. This method increases the fertility of the soil. As a result, it is helpful in more growth in plants. Furthermore it the useful conversion of waste management that is benefiting the environment.

Advantages of Waste Management

There are various advantages of waste management. Some of them are below:

Decrease bad odor – Waste produces a lot of bad odor which is harmful to the environment. Moreover, Bad odor is responsible for various diseases in children. As a result, it hampers their growth. So waste management eliminates all these problems in an efficient way.

Reduces pollution – Waste is the major cause of environmental degradation. For instance, the waste from industries and households pollute our rivers. Therefore waste management is essential. So that the environment may not get polluted. Furthermore, it increases the hygiene of the city so that people may get a better environment to live in.

Reduces the production of waste -Recycling of the products helps in reducing waste. Furthermore, it generates new products which are again useful. Moreover, recycling reduces the use of new products. So the companies will decrease their production rate.

It generates employment – The waste management system needs workers. These workers can do various jobs from collecting to the disposing of waste. Therefore it creates opportunities for the people that do not have any job. Furthermore, this will help them in contributing to society.

Produces Energy – Many waste products can be further used to produce energy. For instance, some products can generate heat by burning. Furthermore, some organic products are useful in fertilizers. Therefore it can increase the fertility of the soil.

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Stories in Delaware

Eight Ways to Reduce Waste

Learn how you can make small changes that are eco-friendly and will have a lasting impact.

Last updated August 22, 2022

So many decisions we make in our everyday lives have a major impact on the planet. The average American produces about 4.4 pounds of trash per day. Explore our tips for ways you can make small changes that are eco-friendly and will have a lasting effect on the environment.

1. Use a reusable bottle/cup for beverages on-the-go

You might already have a reusable water bottle, but do you use it all the time? You can put that reusable bottle to use, save money and reduce waste. By taking your own water with you, you’ll also reduce your chances of purchasing more expensive beverages on-the-go. This will eliminate the one-time use containers they come in. While most cans and bottles can be recycled, they require a lot of energy to be produced, shipped to the bottling facility and then to the store for purchase.

2. Use reusable grocery bags, and not just for groceries

Just like a reusable water bottle, you may already have a reusable grocery bag, though it’s often forgotten at home. Try writing BAGS on the top of your grocery list to help you remember, or keep them in the back seat where they aren’t as easy to forget. Many grocery stores will provide a 5 cent per bag refund so you’ll save a few cents while reducing your usage of one-time-use plastic bags.

3. Purchase wisely and recycle

You can reduce the amount of waste you produce by purchasing products that come with less packaging and/or come in packaging that can be recycled. Not all plastics are recyclable in Delaware, so check labels before your buy. According to Delaware’s Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances , “Containers labeled with a 1 or a 2 are almost always accepted because they are the highest value resins. Resins 4, 5 and 7 are now accepted in most programs in Delaware.” Plastics labeled with a 3/PVC and 6/PS are generally not recyclable in Delaware. Learn more about recycling programs in your area for specifics.

4. Compost it!

Did you know as much as 25% of the items in your trash could potentially be removed from the waste stream and composted in your back yard ? Your fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, grass clippings and leaves can all be composted. While composting requires more effort than the previously mentioned lifestyle changes, it will provide you with a beneficial return on your investment of time and effort. Depending on the conditions, you may have compost in 3 to 12 months to use in your garden. You’ll save on fertilizers and if you grow your own vegetables, you’ll likely see improved yields. The organic matter will also act as a sponge to absorb more water, meaning you might not need to water your plants as much, saving you money and time.

5. Avoid single-use food and drink containers and utensils

Whenever possible, try to avoid single-use coffee cups, disposable utensils, straws and napkins. Some businesses will even give you a discount on your coffee for bringing your own mug. Keep a set of silverware at work along with a plate, bowl and cup that you can wash and reuse. Skip the plastic straw altogether or buy reusable metal ones instead. Remember, a lot of these items are made from plastic, had to be delivered by a truck and will end up in a landfill once we have used them one time. Anything we can do to reduce our use of these products adds up to make a big impact.

6. Buy secondhand items and donate used goods

Before you go buy something new, consider buying it used which can also save you lots of money. That can mean buying secondhand clothes at Goodwill, used furniture and repurposed construction materials at Habitat for Humanity’s ReStore or searching Craigslist for a deal on a bicycle. By purchasing secondhand items you’ll be supporting local charities in addition to saving items from ending up in the dump.

7. Shop local farmers markets and buy in bulk to reduce packaging

Shopping at your local farmers market is a win-win. First, you’ll be supporting local farmers while also getting fresher ingredients than you might find in the big-box grocery store. Food produced locally doesn’t have to be shipped as far or refrigerated in transit. Local farmers often rely on less packaging and many are happy to have you return last week’s berry basket or egg carton for use next week. You can also majorly reduce packaging waste by shopping at stores that sell food in bulk, but you’ll need to come prepared with your own containers.

8. Curb your use of paper: mail, receipts, magazines

In today’s digital world, most companies offer bills by email, and some even offer incentives to do so. More stores are offering e-receipts, too, which are great because they’re harder to lose if you need to make a return. Consider digital subscriptions for your favorite magazines that you can read on your tablet or computer. Digital subscriptions are often a little cheaper than the hard-copy version, as well.

There are numerous companies that allow you opt out of their marketing mailings; we like the options offered at www.ecocycle.org/junkmail . If you get an unwanted weekly packet of grocery store circulars in your mailbox, talk to your mail carrier and they will stop delivering it.

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Home / Essay Samples / Environment / Recycling / The Three R’S: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle

The Three R'S: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle

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Reuse: Giving Items a Second Life

Reduce: minimizing consumption, recycle: transforming waste into resources.

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