This paper embarks on household waste and its management strategies. It gives an insight into the strategies to manage household waste, pillars of waste management structure, factors affecting household waste management, and the measures needed to motivate people to take-up waste management activities. Ample literature was reviewed for the purpose and it was revealed that food waste is the most common type of waste generated from the households. The 3R strategy, composting, pyrolysis, decluttering, and WMC (Waste Management Charge) are effective strategies for managing household waste. Pro-environmental values, circumstantial strands, and balanced psychological factors serve as pillars for a strong waste management structure. High knowledge, positive attitude, and righteous values and beliefs are positively linked with waste management, whereas, lack of facilities and regulations for waste management, low education, and economic status is negatively associated with waste management. Administrative measures, economic measures, physical measures, and effective information dissemination are important measures that should be undertaken to motivate people to take up waste management activities. Based on the literature reviewed, a model/ schema of household waste management is developed and presented in the paper.

As part of the negotiations for EU accession, the Republic of Serbia through Chapter 27 (Poglavlje 27 u Srbiji: Napredak pod ključem⁽¹⁾), has begun the process of establishing a waste management system and adapting it to the goals and acquis communautaire⁽²⁾. The key document in Serbia that aims for environmental awareness is called the Waste Management Program of the Republic of Serbia. Followed by the Waste Management Program of the Republic of Serbia, the Regional Waste Management Plan for 2019–2028 has been created and is addressing waste management and establishing a Regional Centre in the city of Novi Sad for Waste Management. Furthermore, the Local Waste Management Plan for the self–government unit of Bački Petrovac has been adopted in May 2021.

As part of the negotiations for EU accession, the Republic of Serbia through Chapter 27 (Poglavlje 27 u Srbiji: Napredak pod ključem(1)), has begun the process of establishing a waste management system and adapting it to the goals and acquis communautaire(2). The key document in Serbia that aims for environmental awareness is called the Waste Management Program of the Republic of Serbia. Followed by the Waste Management Program of the Republic of Serbia, the Regional Waste Management Plan for 2019–2028 has been created and is addressing waste management and establishing a Regional Centre in the city of Novi Sad for Waste Management. Furthermore, the Local Waste Management Plan for the self–government unit of Bački Petrovac has been adopted in May 2021.

Household waste is the most significant contributor to the accumulation of waste in the final processing area. Indonesia produces 65.2 million waste per year. Improper waste management practices in Indonesia require evaluation steps to achieve sustainable waste management. This study aims to formulate an evaluation instrument for the implementation of household waste management using the analysis of the Household Waste Control Index (HWCI) calculation. This study uses quantitative methods by collecting data from a survey of 548 waste bank members spread across 12 districts in Bekasi City and using the analysis of the calculation of the Household Waste Control Index. Based on the study results, it is known that the implementation of household waste management in Bekasi City is in the moderate category (5.86 out of 10), and the governance of household waste management at the community level still needs to be improved. Furthermore, based on the validation results, it is concluded that the household waste control index can be recommended as an instrument to measure, evaluate, and consider recommendations for waste management policies to realize sustainable household waste management in Bekasi City and other areas that have similar conditions to Bekasi City.

Globally, abundant agricultural wastes (AWs) are being generated each day to fulfil the increasing demands of the fast-growing population. The limited and/or improper management of the same has created an urgent need to devise strategies for their timely utilization and valorisation, for agricultural sustainability and human-food and health security. The AWs are generated from different sources including crop residue, agro-industries, livestock, and aquaculture. The main component of the crop residue and agro-industrial waste is cellulose, (the most abundant biopolymer), followed by lignin and hemicellulose (lignocellulosic biomass). The AWs and their processing are a global issue since its vast majority is currently burned or buried in soil, causing pollution of air, water and global warming. Traditionally, some crop residues have been used in combustion, animal fodder, roof thatching, composting, soil mulching, matchsticks and paper production. But, lignocellulosic biomass can also serve as a sustainable source of biofuel (biodiesel, bioethanol, biogas, biohydrogen) and bioenergy in order to mitigate the fossil fuel shortage and climate change issues. Thus, valorisation of lignocellulosic residues has the potential to influence the bioeconomy by producing value-added products including biofertilizers, bio-bricks, bio-coal, bio-plastics, paper, biofuels, industrial enzymes, organic acids etc. This review encompasses circular bioeconomy based various AW management strategies, which involve ‘reduction’, ‘reusing’ and ‘recycling’ of AWs to boost sustainable agriculture and minimise environmental pollution.

Countries worldwide are struggling to develop strategies and infrastructure for appropriate disposal of the increasing medical waste generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study examines the available knowledge and current practices in medical/healthcare waste management worldwide, particularly in countries with transitional economies, including the dependence of medical waste generation rate on various socioeconomic and environmental parameters. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of medical and healthcare waste management practices in 78 countries. We identified impediments and challenges facing the integration of medical waste management into a prospective circular economy according to statistical correlations with human development index (HDI), life expectancy (LE), healthcare expenditure (HE) per capita of gross domestic product (GDP), and environmental performance index (EPI). The results highlight the importance of knowledge and awareness of best practices for infection and injury prevention for waste management among workers. An average of 38.9% of medical waste was segregated for proper management, and only 41% of workers were trained in-service for medical waste disposal. Plastic materials constituted approximately 35% of medical waste, presenting an opportunity for sustainable resource recovery and recycling. It is imperative for all countries to adopt environmentally sustainable management of medical waste to prevent catastrophic stockpiling of infectious waste during and after pandemics. Additionally, we present an outline for future studies on medical waste generation rate and various socioeconomic and environmental parameters that should be investigated in future work to promulgate an inventory of the database for sustainable management of medical/healthcare waste.

Annually, world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of solid wastes and it is expected to generate 2.2 billion tonnes of solid waste by 2025. Globally double the amount of waste generation was anticipated by 2050, hence an urgent action is required for this intricate problem in adopting better management techniques and recycling strategies. Unfortunately, poor management of wastes causes vulnerable effects to the society in terms of health. Waste management is the key infrastructure to be developed in society, but so far it is not recognized as much in many developing countries. Significant innovations and improvements are made in the last few decades globally, but still 2 to 3 billion people around the world lack access to waste collection services. The aim of this present study is to give an overview of different types of waste techniques that are effectively followed by different countries and the action plans need to follow. This review focuses on the global current scenario of waste generation, and its management methods with relevant literatures providing the upgrades in the phases of waste management services like collection and transport, various techniques adopted for waste management, policies and legislation, countries investment in waste management process and the impact of solid waste management during Covid-19. Collectively we conclude that Asian countries need to allot more fund for handling solid waste. Also with the available waste management technique, it is not possible to achieve zero waste. Therefore, more new techniques are needed to be adapted.

Efficient management of solid waste is essential to lessen its potential health and environmental impacts. However, the current solid waste management practices encounter several challenges. The development of effective waste management systems using advanced technologies is vital to overcome the challenges faced by the current approaches. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful tool for applications in various fields. Several studies also reported the applications of AI techniques in the management of solid waste. This article critically reviews the recent advancements in the applications of AI techniques for the management of solid waste. Various AI and hybrid techniques have been successfully employed to predict the performance of various methods used for the generation, segregation, storage, and treatment of solid waste. The key challenges that limit the applications of AI in solid waste are highlighted. These include the availability and selection of applicable data, poor reproducibility, and less evidence of applications in real solid waste. Based on identified gaps and challenges, recommendations for future work are provided. This review is beneficial for all stakeholders in the field of solid waste management, including policy-makers, governments, waste management organizations, municipalities, and researchers.

With the increasing contradictions between the limited waste disposal capacity and the vast generation of construction and demolition waste, the cross-regional disposal strategies for the waste have been adopted by some cities to alleviate the local waste management pressure. However, so far there is very limited knowledge regarding the collaborative mechanism for promoting cross-regional waste management. As an “up-to-bottom” approach, the system dynamics approach has been used extensively for investigating complex and dynamic systems and is capable of simulating the dynamic interactions of key driving factors in collaborative management of the cross-regional waste. Hence, a system dynamics model was built to evaluate measures that could promote the cross-regional collaborative management of the waste. The results indicate that a reasonable landfill charging scheme considering landfilling capacity helps to increase the efficiency of cross-regional collaborative management. Particularly, when the landfilling capacity is insufficient, a landfill fee at 95 yuan/ton could minimize the illegal dumping activities in regions involving the waste cross-regional mobility. While if the landfilling capacity is sufficient, the landfill fee could be adjusted from 95 yuan/ton to 70 yuan/ton. Finally, five recommendations have been proposed to improve the cross-regional collaborative waste management policies, which are: 1) unifying waste treatment standards, 2) defining cross-regional waste management decisions, 3) establishing dynamic penalty mechanisms, 4) optimizing the landfill charging scheme, and 5) facilitating collaborative waste management mechanisms. The findings provide suggestions for the waste disposal enterprises to make decisions on cross-regional disposal and suggest approaches for government departments to promote practices of cross-regional collaborative management of the waste.

MSc (Environmental Management with Waste Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus | The informal waste sector is increasingly becoming a crucial part of the formal waste management sector. In recent years, the formal waste management sector around the globe have started discussions about transforming the role of waste pickers in the formal waste management sector. The subject of integrating waste pickers in the formal waste management sector has been recognized as a priority in many developing countries such as South Africa. Most municipalities in South Africa have started to integrate waste pickers in their waste management systems, however, there is no commonly agreed definition, and coherent approach to implement waste picker integration. Scholars argue that the term integration is a socially constructed concept which is not defined in policies. The lack of common understanding of what waste picker integration entail, has led to varied understandings and interpretations among role players in the formal waste management sector. In South Africa, the Department of Environment, Fisheries and Forestry (DEFF) published the Waste Picker Integration Guideline for South Africa in the year 2020, to guide role players in successfully integrating waste pickers in the formal waste management sector. This research study aimed to investigate the perspectives of different role players on the integration of waste pickers in the formal waste management sector. Subsequently, two research objectives were set: (1) to investigate the different views of role players on the integration of waste pickers in the formal waste sector; (2) to determine the perceived opportunities and challenges associated with integrating waste pickers in the formal waste management sector. In order to reach these objectives, this study followed a qualitative research approach by collecting data through semi-structured interviews. A structured questionnaire was employed which consisted of open and close-ended questions to a sample of 19 participants, who represented municipalities and buy-back centres (BBCs) in the Gauteng province. Participants were selected through employing the purposive and snowball methods. A thematic data analysis was implemented with responses grouped and divided into themes. The findings revealed that, role players understood and acknowledged the role of waste pickers in the recycling economy, and commonly defined the integration of waste pickers as the formal inclusion of waste pickers to the formal waste management sector. The registration of waste pickers in the institutions’ database and integrating waste pickers through cooperatives were quoted as the most common implemented approaches by role players at different institutions in the formal waste management sector. While the registration of waste pickers in the institutions database and organizing waste pickers into cooperatives are international best practice with evidence of success in Brazil and India, in Gauteng the success rate appears to be unpromising. It has been concluded that role players develop and implement waste picker integration approaches according to their own interpretations of what integration mean. A year later after the publication of the Waste Picker Integration Guideline of South Africa, role players in the Gauteng province did not follow the steps suggested in Section H of the guideline, as a result, there are still an inconsistent understanding of waste picker integration among different role players. This research study recommends that in order for municipalities to successfully integrate waste pickers in their waste management systems, the integration strategies should be included in the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of the municipalities to ensure budget allocation for the integration activities. | Masters