A Holistic Sustainability Framework for Waste Management in European Cities: Concept Development

Abstract

Waste management represents a challenge for public authorities due to many reasons such as increased waste generation following urban population growth, economic burdens imposed on the municipal budget, and nuisances inevitably caused to the environment and local inhabitants. To optimize the system from a sustainability perspective, moving the transition towards a more circular economy, a better understanding of the different stages of waste management is necessary. A review of recently developed sustainability frameworks for waste management showed that no single framework captures all the instruments needed to ultimately provide a solid basis for comprehensive analyses of the potential burdens associated with urban waste management. Bearing this limitation in mind, the objective of this research is to propose a conceptual and comprehensive sustainability framework to support decision-making in waste management of European cities. The framework comprises a combination of methods capable of identifying future strategies and scenarios, to assess different types of impacts based on a life cycle perspective, and considers the value of waste streams, the actors involved, and possible constraints of implementing scenarios. The social, economic, environmental, technical and political domains are covered, and special attention is paid to impacts affecting foremost the local population.

Impacts of Environmental Factors on Waste, Energy, and Resource Management and Sustainable Performance

“…As such, substantial improvements in the efficiency of energy and resource use as well as reductions in waste and emission generation are needed [10]. WER management is one of the ways to achieve sustainability [7,8]. Significant amounts of energy and resources are consumed in manufacturing and significant amounts of waste are produced [6].…”

“…Additionally, pressures from stakeholders and also material costs and scarcity push manufacturers to move towards sustainable manufacturing practices, such as reducing material and energy consumption as well as waste generation [6]. As such, research on waste, energy, and resource (WER) management has received special attention [7,8].…”

“…The results can guide policymakers seeking to promote WER management practices among manufacturing firms. Furthermore, understanding the impacts of WER management on sustainable performance will help the managers of manufacturing firms to realize that WER management overall will improve the performance of firms [7,8].…”

Sustainability Transitions in the Municipal Solid Waste Management Systems of Bolivian Cities: Evidence from La Paz and Santa Cruz de la Sierra

“…In most developed countries the MSWM systems reached high levels of service delivery long before the end of the 20th century, following decades of refinement since the emergence of serious waste management problems in urban centers [1][2][3][4]. The evolution of MSWM systems has followed largely similar pathways across developed countries, being initially driven by public health concerns, followed by pollution control and currently focusing on circular economy approaches to enhance material resource efficiency and environmental protection [5][6][7][8].…”

Municipal Waste Management in Romania in the Context of the Eu. A Stakeholders’ Perspective

“…The holistic sustainable framework here could also be applied to manufacturing processes. It may be useful to inform even more decision-makers about the best strategies to follow (Taelman, Tonini, Wandl, & Dewulf, 2018). The Community-Based Initiatives (CBIs) active in the waste domain tend to have a positive effect in the local communities if they have a relatively strong sense of local identity and existing capacity (Robbins & Rowe, 2012).…”