Towards sustainability in waste management: a systematic literature review

Vu Thi Hanh1,, Nguyen Hoang Vinh Ha2, Pham Thi Cam Anh1, Dang Quynh Nhu1
1 Foreign Trade University, Hanoi, Vietnam
2 Governance and Participation Unit, United Nation Development Programme, Vietnam

Main Article Content

Abstract

Sustainable waste management is undoubtedly an important topic requiring in-depth research and consideration. Due to a growing number of publications on the subject, there is a need to systematically review the literature on sustainable waste management to identify and evaluate the recorded works. A systematic review of 6,734 academic articles published since 2010 was conducted. The final dataset of 144 articles was classified into twelve subjects: published year, context, geographical region, location, funding, type of waste, sector analyzed, data source, main subjects, methods, results, and period analyzed. The results show that the amount of literature on sustainable waste management was three times higher since 2015 compared to the previous period and in poorer countries, which are facing more environmental concerns than developed countries. A majority of reviewed articles focus on Asia and urban areas. Solid waste holds the attention of most selected studies. The highest portion of the selected research uses case study methodology and primary data. The research gap and limitations pointed out in the study provide practical suggestions for researchers seeking to contribute to sustainable waste management.

Article Details

References

Alam, P. and Ahmade, K. (2013), “Impact of solid waste on health and the environment”, International Journal of Sustainable Development and Green Economics (IJSDGE), Vol. 2 No. 1,
pp. 165 - 168.
Ardoin, N.M., Bowers, A.W., Roth, N.W. and Holthuis, N. (2018), “Environmental education and K-12 student outcomes: a review and analysis of research”, The Journal of Environmental Education, Vol. 49 No. 1, pp. 1 - 17.
Ashraf, M.A., Maah, M.J. and Yusoff, I. (2014), “Soil contamination, risk assessment, and remediation”, Environmental Risk Assessment of Soil Contamination, Vol. 1, pp. 3 - 56.
Aslam , M.S., Huang, B. and Cui, L. (2020), “Review of construction and demolition waste management in China and USA”, Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 264, pp. 1 - 13.
Bacinschi, Z.O., Rizescu, C.Z., Stoian, E.V. and Necula, C. (2010), “Waste management practices used in the attempt to protect the environment”, in Proceedings of the 3rd WSEAS International Conference on Engineeringmechanics, Structures, Engineering Geology, Corfu Island, Greece, July 22 - 24, 2010, pp. 378 - 382.
Brunner, P.H. and Rechberger, H. (2015), “Waste to energy – key element for sustainable waste management”, Waste Management, Vol. 37, pp. 3 - 12.
Brusseau, M.L. (2019), “Sustainable development and other solutions to pollution and global change”, in Brusseau, M.L., Pepper, I.L. and Geerba, C.P. (Eds.), Environmental and Pollution Science, 3rd edition, Academic Press, pp. 585 - 603.
Cucchiella, F., D’Adamo, I., Koh, S.L. and Rosa, P. (2015), “Recycling of WEEEs: an economic assessment of present and future e-waste streams”, Renewable And Sustainable Energy Reviews, Vol. 51, pp. 263 - 272.
Dada, O. and Mbohwa, C. (2018), “Energy from waste: a possible way of meeting goal 7 of the sustainable development goals”, Materials Today: Proceedings, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 10577 -
10584.
Demirbas, A. (2011), “Waste management, waste resource facilities and waste conversion processes”, Energy Conversion and Management, Vol. 52 No. 2, pp. 1280 - 1287.
Dermatas, D. (2017), “Waste management and research and the sustainable development goals: focus on soil and groundwater pollution”, Waste Management & Research, Vol. 35, pp. 453 - 455.
El Haggar, S. (2010), Sustainable industrial design and waste management: cradle-to-cradle for
sustainable development, Academic Press.
European Commission. (2011), “Waste prevention and management”, Available at https://ec.europa.eu/environment/green-growth/waste-prevention-and management/index_en.htm (Accessed 16 May, 2020).
Fazzo, L., Minichilli, F., Santoro, M., Ceccarini, A., Della Seta, M., Bianchi, F., Comba, P. and
Martuzzi, M. (2017), “Hazardous waste and health impact: a systematic review of the scientific
literature”, Environmental Health, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 1 - 11.
Ferrari, K., Gamberini, R. and Rimini, B. (2016), “The waste hierarchy: a strategic, tactical and operational approach for developing countries. the case study of Mozambique”, International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning, Vol. 11 No. 5, pp. 759 - 770.
Ferronato, N. and Torretta, V. (2019), “Waste mismanagement in developing countries: a review of global issues”, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol. 16
No. 6, 1060.
Giusti, L. (2009), “A review of waste management practices and their impact on human health”, Waste Management, Vol. 29 No. 8, pp. 2227 - 2239.
Hettiarachchi, H. (2019), “The peak of sustainable waste management assures the sustainability of natural resources, but only in a circular economy”, in Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainability of Natural Resources, Qassim, Saudi Arabia, 5-6 November 2019, Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338867880_The_Peak_of_Sustainable_Waste_Management_Assures_the_Sustainability_of_Natural_Resources_But_Only_in_a_Circular_Economy (Accessed 26 November, 2020).
Izvercian, M. and Ivascu, L. (2015), “Waste management in the context of sustainable development: case study in Romania”, Procedia Economics and Finance, Vol. 26, pp. 717 - 721.
Kamaruddin, S.M., Pawson, E. and Kingham, S. (2013), “Facilitating social learning in sustainable waste management: case study of NGOs involvement in Selangor, Malaysia”, Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 105, pp. 325 - 332.
Kruljac, S. (2012), “Public-private partnerships in solid waste management: sustainable development strategies for Brazil”, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 31 No. 2, pp. 222 - 236.
Lestari, P. and Trihadiningrum, Y. (2019), “The impact of improper solid waste management to plastic pollution in Indonesian coast and marine environment”, Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol. 149, 110505.
Mcleod, S. (2015), “Case study method”, Available at https://www.simplypsychology.org/case-study.html (Accessed 16 May, 2020).
Muralikrishna, I.V. and Manickam, V. (2017), Environmental management: science and engineering for industry, Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier Publisher.
Yara Murray-Atfield, Y. (2019), “Australians create 67 million tonnes of waste each year. Here’s
where it all ends up”, Available at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-27/where-does-allaustralias-waste-go/11755424 (Accessed 21 April, 2020)
Permana, A.S., Towolioe, S., Abd Aziz, N. and Ho, C.S. (2015), “Sustainable solid waste management practices and perceived cleanliness in a low-income city”, Habitat International, Vol. 49, pp. 197 - 205.
Pongraácz, E., Phillips, P.S. and Keiski, R.L. (2004), “Evolving the theory of waste management: defining key concepts”, WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol. 78, pp. 471 - 480.
Shumon, M.R.H., Ahmed, S. and Islam, M.T. (2014), “Electronic waste: present status and future
perspectives of sustainable management practices in Malaysia”, Environmental Earth Sciences,
Vol. 72 No. 7, pp. 2239 - 2249.
Stern, M.J., Powell, R.B. and Hill, D. (2014), “Environmental education program evaluation in the
new millennium: what do we measure and what have we learned?”, Environmental Education Research, Vol. 20 No. 5, pp. 581 - 611.
Syed, S. (2006), “Solid and liquid waste management”, Emirates Journal for Engineering Research, Vol. 11, pp. 19 - 36.
Skenderovic, I., Kalac, B. and Becirovic, S. (2015). “Environmental pollution and waste management”, Balkan Journal of Health Science, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 2 - 10.
Takiguchi, H. (2016), “Global Environment Facility’s support for sustainable waste management”, Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 248 - 257.
The European Council. (1991), “Section 4 – Waste management legislation”, Available at https://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/enlarg/ handbook/waste.pdf (Accessed 22 April, 2020).
Tsai, F.M., Bui, T.D., Tseng, M.L. and Wu, K.J. (2020), “A causal municipal solid waste management model for sustainable cities in Vietnam under uncertainty: a comparison”, Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Vol. 154, 104599.
United Nations. (2020), “Sustainable development knowledge platform”, Available at https://
sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs (Accessed 22 April, 2020).
United Nations. (2019), “What are the Sustainable Development Goals?”, Available at https://www.undp.org/sustainable-development-goals (Accessed 22 April, 2020).
World Bank. (2018), “What a waster”, Available at https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html (Accessed 16 May, 2020).
Zorpas, A.A., Voukkali, I. and Loizia, P. (2015), “The impact of tourist sector in the waste management plans”, Desalination and Water Treatment, Vol. 56 No. 5, pp. 1141 - 1149