Trash or Treasure

In recent years, due to rapid industrialization and escalating environmental challenges, several sustainability concepts, such as waste entrepreneurship and the circular economy, have become pivotal in reshaping economic, social, and environmental paradigms. Departing from linear models, the circular economy concepts advocate for reuse, reduction, and regenerative approaches to tackle pressing concerns such as waste management, environmental pollution, and climate change. In addition, waste entrepreneurship, aligned with circular economy principles, transforms waste into valuable resources, contributing to environmental as well as social sustainability and economic development. The chapter delves into the background and context of waste entrepreneurship and the circular economy, concentrating on resource efficiency and waste management. All of this also plays a crucial role in this transition, driving innovation in product design and supply chain management. Government policies and incentives are important in overcoming challenges and facilitating the shift to sustainable activities. In this chapter, the evolution of waste entrepreneurship, the circular economy, and their alignment with the SDGs are also explored.

Roma communities are commonly associated with working in the informal economy. This study focuses on entrepreneurial practices of Roma individuals dealing in informal municipal waste collection in Hungary with enquiry set against a background of environmental sustainability embodied in the ‘circular economy’. Entrepreneurial ecosystem theory is subsequently drawn upon to guide an ethnographic research approach. Findings are thematically derived to create a foundation for integration of Roma entrepreneurial practices with circular economy oriented official waste collection policies. Outcomes primarily indicate existence of a market based transactional supply chain for informally collected waste material. Moreover, Roma informal entrepreneurship is opportunity oriented, driven by social capital formation and is serendipitously beneficial to society. Paradoxes also arise in conflicting purposes of formal and informal waste collection practices. The prime theoretical implication is that efforts to formalize Roma entrepreneurial activities should be considered against sustainable socio-economic benefits.

This study aims to analyse the topic of circular material flow in the literature, with the goal to provide a comprehensive overview for scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders on the Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounting methodology (EW-MFA), defined by EUROSTAT and OECD. A systematic literature review was carried out, adopting the steps of the “Scientific Procedures and Rationales for Systematic Literature Reviews” (SPAR-4-SLR) protocol, to analyse scientific studies adopting the EW-MFA methodology. Given the relative novelty of the topic, there are limited numbers of articles using the aforementioned methodology as their key element. Therefore, the primary objective of this research is to consolidate the existing literature on the topic, providing a theoretical basis for future work. Additionally, it seeks to direct and encourage future studies adopting the EW-MFA methodology while shedding light on both its benefits and limitations. The authors recommend the systematic use of this methodology as it may be critical for standards creation in the management of material flows, which will enable more effective monitoring of the trend toward a circular economy (CE).

A systematic waste management is crucial for sustainable development of society and protection of environment and human health. However, the concept of waste management has not yet been established in the developing and underdeveloped countries. The economic, environmental, and sustainability implications have triggered the necessity of a proper waste management system all over the world. The poor collection systems, illegal dumping of hazardous medical and electronic waste, and unhealthy recycling practices are the significant concerns associated with a poor waste management infrastructure. The degree of environmental pollution and climate change are severely exacerbated by poor waste management practices. A proper waste management system can turn waste into value-added products. The waste can be turned into profitable business sources if handled properly. This chapter deals with the basic concepts of waste management. Moreover, challenges and opportunities for a systematic waste management have been critically analysed for better understanding. There are several challenges that need to be addressed for a sustainable waste management system. The poor collection/disposal system, lack of financial support, unawareness of localities, inefficient recycling, technological constraints, lack of funding in waste-to-energy projects, weak regulations and unclear legislations, all of these are the challenges of waste management. However, there are several opportunities to establish a structured waste management system. To solve these issues, an efficient waste processing system has to be introduced, containing systematic waste pick-up, and well-structured routes for time and resource saving. Incentives, and educational campaigns have to be provided to adopt sustainable waste management. Investment in recycling and composting facilities should be encouraged.

Many developing communities need help with their waste management. Waste entrepreneurs are active in their communities and responsible for a clean environment; many were originally community-based youth groups with strong local presence and a sense of responsibility. Their activities involve waste picking of unsorted waste, craftsmen involved in waste sorting, and the collection of organic waste for composting. There is a need to look at waste entrepreneurship from an inclusive, multi-stakeholder and response to climate change point of view. This Chapter calls for waste entrepreneurs to explore job creation opportunities, monitor waste information, provide incentivised services, formalise the informal waste sector, and solve socio-environmental problems in developing communities. This research adopts a review to investigate the potential and determine the barriers constraining waste entrepreneurship in South Africa. The Chapter found that although waste entrepreneurship is valuable, they need help with poverty, the environment, and infrastructure.

Urbanization and industrialization coupled with exponential human population has triggered the need to disseminate waste management models, monitoring tools, challenges, and opportunities to build a sustainable environmental management system. The current chapter delivers wide range of strategic innovations on waste to energy technologies highlighting the following key objectives: (i) to illustrate the existing waste management techniques with special emphasis on the need for energy recovery through waste-to-energy method (ii) to provide an overview on prevailing scenario of critical and hazardous waste across different countries and their feasible approaches for sustainable recycling (iii) to discuss the global environmental impact of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) models in identifying an appropriate waste management algorithm in response to the challenges, opportunities, and social aspect in a society. Furthermore, the chapter also comprehensively describes how the characteristics of different waste along with the economic status of nations largely dictates the impact, opportunities, and challenges of a society. In addition, a detailed and thorough understanding on these ground breaking approaches would not only benefit science and society to manage complex waste but also facilitate in building up proactive responses to the environmental, economic, and social encounters in a smart, organized, and sustainable manner. Thus, the chapter affords to provide a snapshot of the current landscape to the prevailing hindrances and possible opportunities of waste management with an objective to construct a sustainable and secure energy for future.

The use of Rare earth element(s) (REE) in high technology in the world is becoming more and more important day by day. This importance has caused REEs used in high technology to be declared in the critical raw material lists of many countries or country groups, especially the European Union (EU), and their criticality and strategic level have increased. The EU is dependent on many countries around the world for REE supplies. Due to their use of high technology, this dependence will continue for decades. Taking this into consideration, the EU has given great importance to the recovery of these REEs in recent years. However, the recovery of these REEs from mining and industrial tailings/wastes is not sufficient for the annual REE needs of these countries. At this point, the recovery of REEs in abandoned mine deposits, which contain high amounts of REEs in many mine residues, attracts the attention of countries using high technology in terms of REE supply. In this regard, studies that determine the amounts and grade characteristics and feasible methods of REEs that can be recovered from mine tailings can contribute to reducing the REE supply risk. Thus, these new findings will be able to contribute to the REE supply of many countries, especially EU countries that produce high technology. In this study, recovery opportunities of REEs from mining residues and urban wastes were evaluated. An attempt has been made to clarify the issue of REE recovery from urban waste in the world and to find an answer to the question of whether REE can be supplied without opening a mining operation. In addition, this study reviewed the literature on the environmentally responsible management of WEEE for recycling.

The chapter aims to provide an in-depth understanding of waste management system and also highlights the importance of waste management along with waste management challenges in the wake of environmental degradation and depletion of natural resources. The chapter, in summary, contains a thorough analysis of waste management techniques and lists the numerous kinds of waste that are produced by homes, businesses, hospitals, and construction sites, among other sources. Further, the chapter emphasizes the importance of reducing waste generation as the first step in managing waste and identifies several opportunities for waste management, including recycling, reusing, and reducing waste. The chapter stresses the need for a comprehensive waste management policy that integrates all waste management processes, from collection, transportation, treatment to disposal and also highlights the need for public awareness and/or education efforts to raise the consciousness of the significance of waste management and ways to reduce waste generation. Finally, the chapter provides a critical review of the challenges posed during waste management and the opportunities for improvement. In summary, calls for joint efforts among public, business, and governmental sectors to implement sustainable waste management techniques that are incorporated into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Since the very beginning of civilization, waste has always been an incessant problem and their management remains burdensome till date, as the rate of waste generation is increasing with the increase in population, land use and development of economy. Waste is generally considered as an unavoidable trash/nuisance with zero value and concerns which can be overruled by the waste management system. It is a well-organized holistic expensive process that includes segregation at sources, on-time collection, transportation, reuse, recycle, reprocess and disposal of the leftover materials into the landfills, which usually receives inadequate attention as public get easily acclimatized to live along with the generated wastes. Managing waste in an environmentally favorable, culturally acceptable and techno-economically feasible manner is a need in recent times. Society is in a need to think of ways to minimize and utilize waste for other uses. Understanding waste management in terms of its challenges involves knowledge dissemination to the public, waste prevention, valorization, responsible material production and packaging, maximum recycling, conservation of resources, enhancement of sustainability and reduction of greenhouse gasses. Opportunities in waste management could be achieved by exercising circular economy practices which reinforce environmental, societal and economic benefits. Role of entrepreneurs in the waste management system encompasses a cluster of skilled as well as unskilled workers, as it is a labor-intensive system. Entrepreneurs may invest money as well as infuse novel skills and technologies to transform trash into treasures. The efficacy and significance of waste management will eventually increase with the active participation of entrepreneurs.

The world is facing a dual challenge of addressing waste management and finding sustainable alternatives to conventional energy sources. In this context, bacterial biofuels produced from waste and wastewater have emerged as a promising solution. These biofuels not only provide an environmentally friendly energy source but also contribute to waste reduction and resource optimization, aligning with the principles of a circular economy. Machine learning tools have the capacity to aid in the identification of the best process parameters, estimation of feedstock characteristics, and assessment of environmental effects like greenhouse gas emissions. The circular economy emphasizes the continuous use, regeneration, and optimization of resources to minimize waste and environmental impact. Machine learning algorithms play a pivotal role in optimizing the circular economy of bacterial biofuels from waste and wastewater, offering innovative ways to enhance efficiency, predict outcomes, and reduce environmental footprints. Through quick and precise understanding, machine learning is helping to foster the growth of eco-friendly and well-coordinated biofuel sectors. This, in turn, reduces the environmental impact and enhances social welfare by promoting job opportunities.

Waste management strategies in mining processes are shaped according to the characteristics of the operating process, the type of ore, and the existing socio-environmental conditions. The implementation of the budget and improvement programs required by the waste management plan is determined by the way these issues are taken into account during planning. Various harmful wastes and some recyclable residues are generated during the recovery of rare earth element(s) (REE) and other elements from ores containing REE. Mining and ore preparation process residues, that is, waste and tailings, pose various waste management problems. In this study, the characteristics of waste and tailings resulting from mining and ore preparation activities of REEs were explained, the difficulties encountered were mentioned, and solution suggestions were presented by making use of the literature on REE recovery from tailings and waste management. REEs can be found secondarily with other minerals. Recovery of REEs and other valuable elements from stored mineral waste piles may be possible in the future. In this way, countries that make strategic plans for REE or have reserves will be able to conduct new project studies and investments regarding waste containing REE. In this study, opportunities and challenges in the recovery of REEs from mining tailings, their environmental impacts, and waste management were reviewed.

This paper emphasizes the importance of Sustainable Waste Management for achieving a Circular Economy and the need to monitor the EU and its Member States’ transformation path. Despite positive findings in waste treatment studies, there is a lack of efficiency evaluation at the regional level. The research aims to benchmark municipal solid waste management in 167 NUTS-2 regions across 20 European member states from 2008 to 2013, assessing convergence between regions using four Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, including the Benefit-of-Doubt (Bod) approach. The results reveal a reduction of the Coefficient of Variation equal to 3.6% per year. Although this convergence, differences in municipal solid waste management performance existed between 20 EU Members States NUTS-2 regions, even within the same country. The findings indicate a yearly reduction in the Coefficient of Variation, signalling progressive convergence in waste management efficiency. However, significant variations persist among the analysed regions, with better performance in Central and Northern regions and poorer performance in Eastern and Southern regions.