waste management introduction research paper

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Environmental Sustainability Impacts of Solid Waste Management Practices in the Global South

Ismaila rimi abubakar.

1 College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

Khandoker M. Maniruzzaman

2 Department of Urban and Regional Planning, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

Umar Lawal Dano

Faez s. alshihri, maher s. alshammari, sayed mohammed s. ahmed, wadee ahmed ghanem al-gehlani.

3 Department of Architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 32141, Saudi Arabia

Tareq I. Alrawaf

4 Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Planning, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam 31441, Saudi Arabia

Associated Data

No data were reported in this review article.

Solid waste management (SWM) is one of the key responsibilities of city administrators and one of the effective proxies for good governance. Effective SWM mitigates adverse health and environmental impacts, conserves resources, and improves the livability of cities. However, unsustainable SWM practices, exacerbated by rapid urbanization and financial and institutional limitations, negatively impact public health and environmental sustainability. This review article assesses the human and environmental health impacts of SWM practices in the Global South cities that are the future of global urbanization. The study employs desktop research methodology based on in-depth analysis of secondary data and literature, including official documents and published articles. It finds that the commonplace SWM practices include mixing household and commercial garbage with hazardous waste during storage and handling. While waste storage is largely in old or poorly managed facilities such as storage containers, the transportation system is often deficient and informal. The disposal methods are predominantly via uncontrolled dumping, open-air incinerators, and landfills. The negative impacts of such practices include air and water pollution, land degradation, emissions of methane and hazardous leachate, and climate change. These impacts impose significant environmental and public health costs on residents with marginalized social groups mostly affected. The paper concludes with recommendations for mitigating the public and environmental health risks associated with the existing SWM practices in the Global South.

1. Introduction

Solid waste management (SWM) continues to dominate as a major societal and governance challenge, especially in urban areas overwhelmed by the high rate of population growth and garbage generation. The role of SWM in achieving sustainable development is emphasized in several international development agendas, charters, and visions. For example, sustainable SWM can help meet several United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), such as ensuring clean water and sanitation (SDG6), creating sustainable cities and inclusive communities (SDG11), mitigating climate change (SDG13), protecting life on land (SDG15), and demonstrating sustainable consumption and production patterns (SDG12) ( https://sdgs.un.org/goals , accessed on 26 September 2022). It also fosters a circular urban economy that promotes reductions in the consumption of finite resources, materials reuse and recycling for waste elimination, pollution reduction, cost saving, and green growth

However, coupled with economic growth, improved lifestyle, and consumerism, cities across the globe will continue to face an overwhelming challenge of SWM as the world population is expected to rise to 8 billion by 2025 and to 9.3 billion by 2050, out of which around 70% will be living in urban areas [ 1 , 2 ]. In developing countries, most cities collect only 50–80% of generated waste after spending 20–50% of their budgets, of which 80–95% are spent on collecting and transporting waste [ 3 , 4 ]. Moreover, many low-income countries collect as low as 10% of the garbage generated in suburban areas, which contributes to public health and environmental risks, including higher incidents of diarrhea and acute respiratory infections among people, particularly children, living near garbage dumps [ 5 ]. Obstacles to effective municipal SWM include lack of awareness, technologies, finances, and good governance [ 6 , 7 , 8 ].

Removing garbage from homes and businesses without greater attention to what was then carried out with it has also been the priority of municipal SWM in several cities of developing countries [ 9 ]. In most developing countries, garbage collected from households is disposed of in landfills or dumpsites, the majority of which are projected to reach their capacities within a decade. The unsustainable approach of dumping or burning waste in an open space, usually near poor communities on the city edge, or throwing garbage into water bodies was an acceptable garbage disposal strategy. Similarly, several cities still use old-generation or poorly managed facilities and informal uncontrolled dumping or open-air waste burning. Often, these practices affect marginalized social groups near the disposal sites [ 10 ]. Moreover, this approach poses several sustainability problems, including resource depletion, environmental pollution, and public health problems, such as the spread of communicable diseases.

However, ever since the advent of the environmental movement in the 1960s, there has been a far-reaching appreciation of environmental and public health risks of unsustainable SWM practices. In the 1970s and onward, SWM was a technical issue to be resolved using technology; hence, the emphasis and investments were placed on garbage collection equipment [ 5 ]. Although modern technology can significantly reduce emissions of hazardous substances, by the 1990s, that viewpoint changed when municipalities become unable to evacuate and dispose of garbage effectively without the active involvement of service users and other stakeholders [ 5 ]. The inability of the public sector in the global South to deliver sufficient improvement of SWM, coupled with the pressure from the financial institutions and other donor agencies, led to privatization policies at the end of the decade. However, as privatization failed to provide municipal SWM services to the poor and marginalized communities, the current global thinking on addressing municipal SWM problems is changing.

A more sustainable waste management approach prioritizes practices such as reduced production, waste classifications, reuse, recycling, and energy recovery over the common practices of landfilling, open dumps, and open incineration [ 11 , 12 , 13 ]. This approach, which is still at an early stage but getting increased attention in the Global South, is more inclusive and environment-friendly and has less negative impact on human health and the environment than the common practices [ 14 , 15 , 16 ]. As such, there is a need to assess SWM practices in the Global South and their impacts on environmental and human health because 90% of the expected growth in the urban population by 2050 is expected to happen here. So far, there are a few studies on the impacts of SWM practices on human health and the environment in the global regions.

Therefore, this review article addresses this knowledge gap by assessing the negative impacts of the dominant SWM practices on human and environmental health. Section 2 presents the research methodology. Section 3 reviews the major SWM practices in the Global South and assesses the environmental and public health implications of SWM practices in the Global South cities. While Section 4 discusses the implications of the findings and proffers recommendations that could help authorities to deal with SWM challenges and mitigate public and environmental health risks associated with unsustainable SWM practices, Section 5 concludes the paper.

2. Materials and Methods

The present paper utilizes a desktop research method of collecting and analyzing relevant data from the existing literature, as utilized in some previous studies [ 17 , 18 ]. The method consists of three iterative stages shown in Figure 1 : (a) scoping, (b) collecting relevant literature, and (c) data analysis. Firstly, the scoping stage involves defining and understanding the research problem under investigation and setting the study scope and boundary. The scope of the paper is to explore human and environmental impacts of SWM practices toward policy and practical recommendations for a more sustainable SWM system, with the Global South as the study boundary. This stage also helped identify relevant keywords to search for during the literature review in the second stage.

The flow chart of the research method (Source: [ 18 ] (p. 4)).

The second stage involved identifying and collecting relevant literature from online sources. The researchers utilized Google Scholar and Scopus databases to identify peer-reviewed academic works (peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, and books) as well as the gray literature. The literature that satisfied the following three inclusion criteria was identified and downloaded: (1) It is related to the study’s objective; (2) it is in the English language; and (3) it was published within the last twenty years, although some old documents about established concepts and approaches were also accessed. The downloaded gray literature includes newspaper articles, statistics, technical reports, and website contents from international development organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations, and the World Bank.

In the last stage, the authors organized, analyzed, and synthesized the data collected from the literature. The downloaded works were organized according to the similarity of topics, even though some fit in more than one category. Then, each document was thoroughly examined, and themes concerned with SWM practices and their human and environmental impacts were collated, synthesized, and harmonized. Finally, the themes were summarized in Table A1 , Table A2 and Table A3 (see Appendix A ) and discussed. Implications and recommendations of the findings are then highlighted.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. solid waste management practices in the global south.

Global municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rose from 1.3 billion tons in 2012 to 2.1 billion tons (0.74 kg/capita/day) as of 2016, which by 2050 is expected to increase by 70% to reach a total of 3.40 billion tons or 1.42 kg/capita/day [ 19 ]. The per capita MSW generation varies among regions and countries. In the EU (European Union), it ranges from 0.3–1.4 kg/capita/day [ 20 ], and in some African cities, the average is 0.78 kg/capita/day [ 21 ]. In Asia, urban areas generate about 760,000 tons of MSW per day, which is expected to increase to 1.8 million tons per day or 26% of the world’s total by 2025, despite the continent housing 53% of the world’s population [ 22 , 23 ]. In China, the total MSW generation was around 212 million tons (0.98 kg/capita/day) in 2006, out of which 91.4%, 6.4%, and 2.2% were disposed of via landfilling, incineration, and composting [ 24 ]. In 2010, only 660 Chinese cities produced about 190 million tons of MSW, accounting for 29% of the world’s total, while the total amount of solid waste in China could reach at least 480 million tons in 2030 [ 25 ]. In China, industrial waste (more than one billion tons) was five times the amount of MSW generated in 2002, which is expected to generate approximately twice as much MSW as the USA, while India will overtake the USA in MSW generation by 2030 [ 26 ].

In Malaysia, while the average rate of MSW generation was about 0.5–0.8 kg/person/day, Kuala Lumpur’s daily per capita generation rate was 1.62 kg in 2008 [ 27 ], which is expected to reach 2.23 kg in 2024 [ 28 ]. About 64% of Malaysia’s waste consists of household and office waste, 25% industrial waste, 8% commercial waste, and 3% construction waste [ 29 ]. In Sri Lanka, the assessed mean waste generation in 1999 was 6500 tons/day or 0.89 kg/cap/day, which is estimated to reach 1.0 kg/cap/day by 2025 [ 30 ]. With a 1.2% population growth rate, the total MSW generation in 2009 was approximately 7250 tons/day [ 31 ]. In Ghana, the solid waste generation rate was 0.47 kg/person/day, or about 12,710 tons per annum, consisting of biodegradable waste (0.318), non-biodegradable (0.096), and inert and miscellaneous waste (0.055) kg/person/day, respectively [ 32 ].

Moreover, global SWM costs are anticipated to increase to about $375.5 billion in 2025, with more than four-fold increases in lower- to middle-income countries and five-fold increases in low-income countries [ 33 ]. Globally, garbage collection, transportation, and disposal pose a major cost component in SWM systems [ 19 ]. Inadequate funding militates against the optimization of MSW disposal services. Table 1 compares the everyday SWM practices in low-, middle- and high-income countries according to major waste management steps. The literature indicates that waste generation rates and practices depend on the culture, socioeconomic status, population density, and level of commercial and industrial activities of a city or region.

Common MSW management practices by country’s level of economic development (adapted from [ 34 ]).

3.2. Environmental and Public Health Impacts of SWM Practices in the Global South

• (a)  Weak and Inadequate SWM System

Many problems in the cities of the global South are often associated with a weak or inadequate SWM system, which leads to severe direct and indirect environmental and public health issues at every stage of waste collection, handling, treatment, and disposal [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Inadequate and weak SWM results in indiscriminate dumping of waste on the streets, open spaces, and water bodies. Such practices were observed in, for example, Pakistan [ 35 , 36 ], India [ 37 ], Nepal [ 38 ], Peru [ 39 ], Guatemala [ 40 ], Brazil [ 41 ], Kenya [ 42 ], Rwanda [ 43 ], South Africa [ 44 , 45 ], Nigeria [ 46 ], Zimbabwe [ 47 ], etc.

The problems associated with such practices are GHG emissions [ 37 , 48 ], leachates [ 40 , 44 , 49 ], the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue [ 36 ], odor [ 35 , 38 , 50 , 51 ], blocking of drains and sewers and subsequent flooding [ 52 ], suffocation of animals in plastic bags [ 52 ], and indiscriminate littering [ 38 , 39 , 53 ].

• (b)  Irregular Waste Collection and Handling

Uncollected and untreated waste has socioeconomic and environmental costs extending beyond city boundaries. Environmental sustainability impacts of this practice include methane (CH 4 ) emissions, foul odor, air pollution, land and water contamination, and the breeding of rodents, insects, and flies that transmit diseases to humans. Decomposition of biodegradable waste under anaerobic conditions contributes to about 18% and 2.9% of global methane and GHG emissions, respectively [ 54 ], with the global warming effect of about 25 times higher than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions [ 55 ]. Methane also causes fires and explosions [ 56 ]. Emissions from SWM in developing countries are increasing due to rapid economic growth and improved living standards [ 57 ].

Irregular waste collection also contributes to marine pollution. In 2010, 192 coastal countries generated 275 million metric tons of plastic waste out of which up to 12.7 million metric tons (4.4%) entered ocean ecosystems [ 58 ]. Moreover, plastic waste collects and stagnates water, proving a mosquito breeding habitat and raising the risks of dengue, malaria, and West Nile fever [ 56 ]. In addition, uncollected waste creates serious safety, health, and environmental consequences such as promoting urban violence and supporting breeding and feeding grounds for flies, mosquitoes, rodents, dogs, and cats, which carry diseases to nearby homesteads [ 4 , 19 , 59 , 60 ].

In the global South, scavengers often throw the remaining unwanted garbage on the street. Waste collectors are rarely protected from direct contact and injury, thereby facing serious health threats. Because garbage trucks are often derelict and uncovered, exhaust fumes and dust stemming from waste collection and transportation contribute to environmental pollution and widespread health problems [ 61 ]. In India’s megacities, for example, irregular MSW management is one of the major problems affecting air and marine quality [ 62 ]. Thus, irregular waste collection and handling contribute to public health hazards and environmental degradation [ 63 ].

• (c)  Landfilling and Open Dumping

Most municipal solid waste in the Global South goes into unsanitary landfills or open dumps. Even during the economic downturn during the COVID-19 pandemic, the amount of waste heading to landfill sites in Brazil, for example, increased due to lower recycling rates [ 64 ]. In Johor, Malaysia, landfilling destroys natural habitats and depletes the flora and fauna [ 65 ]. Moreover, landfilling with untreated, unsorted waste led to severe public health issues in South America [ 66 ]. Based on a study on 30 Brazilian cities, Urban and Nakada [ 64 ] report that 35% of medical waste was not properly treated before disposal, which poses a threat to public health, including the spread of COVID-19. Landfills and open dumps are also associated with high emissions of methane (CH 4 ), a major GHG [ 67 , 68 ]. Landfills and wastewater release 17% of the global methane emission [ 25 ]. About 29 metric tons of methane are emitted annually from landfills globally, accounting for about 8% of estimated global emissions, with 1.3 metric tons released from landfills in Africa [ 7 ]. The rate of landfill gas production steadily rises while MSW accumulates in the landfill emissions. Released methane and ammonia gases can cause health hazards such as respiratory diseases [ 37 , 69 , 70 , 71 ]. Since methane is highly combustible, it can cause fire and explosion hazards [ 72 ].

Open dumping sites with organic waste create the environment for the breeding of disease-carrying vectors, including rodents, flies, and mosquitoes [ 40 , 45 , 51 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 ]. Associated vector-borne diseases include zika virus, dengue, and malaria fever [ 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ]. In addition, there are risks of water-borne illnesses such as leptospirosis, intestinal worms, diarrhea, and hepatitis A [ 80 , 81 ].

Odors from landfill sites, and their physical appearance, affect the lives of nearby residents by threatening their health and undermining their livelihoods, lowering their property values [ 37 , 38 , 68 , 82 , 83 , 84 ]. Moreover, the emission of ammonia (NH 3 ) from landfill sites can damage species’ composition and plant leaves [ 85 ]. In addition, the pollutants from landfill sites damage soil quality [ 73 , 84 ]. Landfill sites also generate dust and are sources of noise pollution [ 86 ].

Air and water pollution are intense in the hot and rainy seasons due to the emission of offensive odor, disease-carrying leachates, and runoff. Considerable amounts of methane and CO 2 from landfill sites produce adverse health effects such as skin, eyes, nose, and respiratory diseases [ 69 , 87 , 88 ]. The emission of ammonia can lead to similar problems and even blindness [ 85 , 89 ]. Other toxic gaseous pollutants from landfill sites include Sulphur oxides [ 89 ]. While less than 20% of methane is recovered from landfills in China, Western nations recover up to 60% [ 90 ].

Several studies report leachate from landfill sites contaminating water sources used for drinking and other household applications, which pose significant risks to public health [ 36 , 43 , 53 , 72 , 75 , 83 , 91 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ]. For example, Hong et al. [ 95 ] estimated that, in 2006, the amount of leachates escaping from landfill sites in Pudong (China) was 160–180 m 3 per day. On the other hand, a properly engineered facility for waste disposal can protect public health, preserve important environmental resources, prevent clogging of drainages, and prevent the migration of leachates to contaminate ground and surface water, farmlands, animals, and air from which they enter the human body [ 61 , 96 ]. Moreover, heat in summer can speed up the rate of bacterial action on biodegradable organic material and produce a pungent odor [ 60 , 97 , 98 ]. In China, for example, leachates were not treated in 47% of landfills [ 99 ].

Co-mingled disposal of industrial and medical waste alongside municipal waste endangers people with chemical and radioactive hazards, Hepatitis B and C, tetanus, human immune deficiency, HIV infections, and other related diseases [ 59 , 60 , 100 ]. Moreover, indiscriminate disposal of solid waste can cause infectious diseases such as gastrointestinal, dermatological, respiratory, and genetic diseases, chest pains, diarrhea, cholera, psychological disorders, skin, eyes, and nose irritations, and allergies [ 10 , 36 , 60 , 61 ].

• (d)  Open Burning and Incineration

Open burning of MSW is a main cause of smog and respiratory diseases, including nose, throat, chest infections and inflammation, breathing difficulty, anemia, low immunity, allergies, and asthma. Similar health effects were reported from Nepal [ 101 ], India [ 87 ], Mexico, [ 69 ], Pakistan [ 52 , 73 , 84 ], Indonesia [ 88 ], Liberia [ 50 ], and Chile [ 102 ]. In Mumbai, for example, open incineration emits about 22,000 tons of pollutants annually [ 56 ]. Mongkolchaiarunya [ 103 ] reported air pollution and odors from burning waste in Thailand. In addition, plastic waste incineration produces hydrochloric acid and dioxins in quantities that are detrimental to human health and may cause allergies, hemoglobin deficiency, and cancer [ 95 , 104 ]. In addition, smoke from open incineration and dumpsites is a significant contributor to air pollution even for persons staying far from dumpsites.

• (e)  Composting

Composting is a biological method of waste disposal that entails the decomposing or breaking down of organic wastes into simpler forms by naturally occurring microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. However, despite its advantage of reducing organic waste by at least half and using compost in agriculture, the composting method has much higher CO 2 emissions than other disposal approaches. In Korea, for example, composting has the highest environmental impact than incineration and anaerobic digestion methods [ 105 ]. The authors found that the environmental impact of composting was found to be 2.4 times higher than that of incineration [ 105 ]. Some reviews linked composting with several health issues, including congested nose, sore throat and dry cough, bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis, and extrinsic allergic alveolitis [ 36 , 106 ].

4. Implications and Recommendations

As discussed in the section above, there are many negative impacts of unsustainable SWM practices on the people and the environment. Although all waste treatment methods have their respective negative impacts, some have fewer debilitating impacts on people and the environment than others. The following is the summary of key implications of such unsustainable SWM practices.

• Uncollected organic waste from bins, containers and open dumps harbors rodents, insects, and reptiles that transmit diseases to humans. It also produces odor due to the decomposition of organic wastes, especially in the summer, and leachates that migrate and contaminate receiving underground and surface waters.
• Open dumps and non-engineered landfills release methane from decomposing biodegradable waste under anaerobiotic conditions. Methane is a key contributor to global warming, and it can cause fires and explosions.
• Non-biodegradable waste, such as discarded tires, plastics, bottles, and tins, pollutes the ground and collects water, thus creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes and increasing the risk of diseases such as malaria, dengue, and West Nile fever.
• Open burning of MSW emits pollutants into the atmosphere thereby increasing the incidences of nose and throat infections and inflammation, inhalation difficulties, bacterial infections, anemia, reduced immunity, allergies, and asthma.
• Uncontrolled incineration causes smog and releases fine particles, which are a major cause of respiratory disease. It also contributes to urban air pollution and GHG emissions significantly.
• Incineration and landfilling are associated with reproductive defects in women, developmental defects in children, cancer, hepatitis C, psychosocial impacts, poisoning, biomarkers, injuries, and mortality.

Therefore, measures toward more sustainable SWM that can mitigate such impacts must be worked out and followed. The growing complexity, costs, and coordination of SWM require multi-stakeholder involvement at each process stage [ 7 ]. Earmarking resources, providing technical assistance, good governance, and collaboration, and protecting environmental and human health are SWM critical success factors [ 47 , 79 ]. As such, local governments, the private sector, donor agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the residents, and informal garbage collectors and scavengers have their respective roles to play collaboratively in effective and sustainable SWM [ 40 , 103 , 107 , 108 ]. The following are key practical recommendations for mitigating the negative impacts of unsustainable SWM practices enumerated above.

First, cities should plan and implement an integrated SWM approach that emphasizes improving the operation of municipalities to manage all stages of SWM sustainably: generation, separation, transportation, transfer/sorting, treatment, and disposal [ 36 , 46 , 71 , 77 , 86 ]. The success of this approach requires the involvement of all stakeholders listed above [ 109 ] while recognizing the environmental, financial, legal, institutional, and technical aspects appropriate to each local setting [ 77 , 86 ]. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can likewise aid in selecting the method and preparing the waste management plan [ 88 , 110 ]. Thus, the SWM approach should be carefully selected to spare residents from negative health and environmental impacts [ 36 , 39 , 83 , 98 , 111 ].

Second, local governments should strictly enforce environmental regulations and better monitor civic responsibilities for sustainable waste storage, collection, and disposal, as well as health hazards of poor SWM, reflected in garbage littering observable throughout most cities of the Global South [ 64 , 84 ]. In addition, violations of waste regulations should be punished to discourage unsustainable behaviors [ 112 ]. Moreover, local governments must ensure that waste collection services have adequate geographical coverage, including poor and minority communities [ 113 ]. Local governments should also devise better SWM policies focusing on waste reduction, reuse, and recycling to achieve a circular economy and sustainable development [ 114 , 115 ].

Third, effective SWM requires promoting positive public attitudes toward sustainable waste management [ 97 , 116 , 117 , 118 ]. Therefore, public awareness campaigns through print, electronic, and social media are required to encourage people to desist from littering and follow proper waste dropping and sorting practices [ 36 , 64 , 77 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 91 , 92 , 119 ]. There is also the need for a particular focus on providing sorting bins and public awareness about waste sorting at the source, which can streamline and optimize subsequent SWM processes and mitigate their negative impacts [ 35 , 45 , 46 , 64 , 69 , 89 , 93 ]. Similarly, non-governmental and community-based organizations can help promote waste reduction, separation, and sorting at the source, and material reuse/recycling [ 103 , 120 , 121 , 122 ]. In Vietnam, for example, Tsai et al. [ 123 ] found that coordination among stakeholders and appropriate legal and policy frameworks are crucial in achieving sustainable SWM.

Fourth, there is the need to use environmentally friendly technologies or upgrade existing facilities. Some researchers prefer incineration over other methods, particularly for non-recyclable waste [ 44 , 65 ]. For example, Xin et al. [ 124 ] found that incineration, recycling, and composting resulted in a 70.82% reduction in GHG emissions from solid waste in Beijing. In Tehran city, Iran, Maghmoumi et al. [ 125 ] revealed that the best scenario for reducing GHG emissions is incinerating 50% of the waste, landfilling 30%, and recycling 20%. For organic waste, several studies indicate a preference for composting [ 45 , 51 , 75 ] and biogas generation [ 15 , 42 , 68 ]. Although some researchers have advocated a complete ban on landfilling [ 13 , 42 ], it should be controlled with improved techniques for leak detection and leachate and biogas collection [ 126 , 127 ]. Many researchers also suggested an integrated biological and mechanical treatment (BMT) of solid waste [ 66 , 74 , 95 , 119 ]. In Kenya, the waste-to-biogas scheme and ban on landfill and open burning initiatives are estimated to reduce the emissions of over 1.1 million tons of GHG and PM2.5 emissions from the waste by more than 30% by 2035 [ 42 ]. An appropriately designed waste disposal facility helps protect vital environmental resources, including flora, fauna, surface and underground water, air, and soil [ 128 , 129 ].

Fifth, extraction and reuse of materials, energy, and nutrients are essential to effective SWM, which provides livelihoods for many people, improves their health, and protects the environment [ 130 , 131 , 132 , 133 , 134 , 135 , 136 ]. For example, recycling 24% of MSW in Thailand lessened negative health, social, environmental, and economic impacts from landfill sites [ 89 ]. Waste pickers play a key role in waste circularity and should be integrated into the SWM system [ 65 , 89 , 101 , 137 ], even to the extent of taking part in decision-making [ 138 ]. In addition, workers involved in waste collection should be better trained and equipped to handle hazardous waste [ 87 , 128 ]. Moreover, green consumption, using bioplastics, can help reduce the negative impacts of solid waste on the environment [ 139 ].

Lastly, for effective SWM, local authorities should comprehensively address SWM challenges, such as lack of strategic SWM plans, inefficient waste collection/segregation and recycling, insufficient budgets, shortage of qualified waste management professionals, and weak governance, and then form a financial regulatory framework in an integrated manner [ 140 , 141 , 142 ]. Effective SWM system also depends on other factors such as the waste generation rate, population density, economic status, level of commercial activity, culture, and city/region [ 37 , 143 ]. A sustainable SWM strives to protect public health and the environment [ 144 , 145 ].

5. Conclusions

As global solid waste generation rates increase faster than urbanization, coupled with inadequate SWM systems, local governments and urban residents often resort to unsustainable SWM practices. These practices include mixing household and commercial garbage with hazardous waste during storage and handling, storing garbage in old or poorly managed facilities, deficient transportation practices, open-air incinerators, informal/uncontrolled dumping, and non-engineered landfills. The implications of such practices include air and water pollution, land degradation, climate change, and methane and hazardous leachate emissions. In addition, these impacts impose significant environmental and public health costs on residents with marginalized social groups affected mostly.

Inadequate SWM is associated with poor public health, and it is one of the major problems affecting environmental quality and cities’ sustainable development. Effective community involvement in the SWM requires promoting positive public attitudes. Public awareness campaigns through print, electronic, and social media are required to encourage people to desist from littering and follow proper waste-dropping practices. Improper SWM also resulted in water pollution and unhealthy air in cities. Future research is needed to investigate how the peculiarity of each Global South country can influence selecting the SWM approach, elements, aspects, technology, and legal/institutional frameworks appropriate to each locality.

Reviewed literature on the impacts of SWM practices in Asia (compiled by authors).

Reviewed literature on the impacts of SWM practices in South America (compiled by authors).

Reviewed literature on the impacts of SWM practices in Africa (compiled by authors).

Funding Statement

This research received no external funding.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, I.R.A. and K.M.M.; methodology, I.R.A., K.M.M. and U.L.D.; validation, I.R.A., K.M.M. and U.L.D.; formal analysis, I.R.A. and K.M.M.; investigation, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A. and W.A.G.A.-G.; resources, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A., W.A.G.A.-G. and T.I.A.; data curation, U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A. and W.A.G.A.-G.; writing—original draft preparation, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A. and W.A.G.A.-G.; writing—review and editing, I.R.A., K.M.M. and U.L.D.; supervision, F.S.A. and T.I.A.; project administration, I.R.A.; funding acquisition, I.R.A., K.M.M., U.L.D., F.S.A., M.S.A., S.M.S.A., W.A.G.A.-G. and T.I.A. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest in conducting this study.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Circularity in waste management: a research proposal to achieve the 2030 Agenda

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• Published: 21 April 2023
• Volume 16 , pages 1520–1540, ( 2023 )

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• Rocío González-Sánchez   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5460-6652 1 ,
• Sara Alonso-Muñoz   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8991-5781 1 &
• María Sonia Medina-Salgado   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3500-1241 1  

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Waste management is the main challenge in the transition away from the linear "take-make-dispose" economy. Incorporating the principles of circularity in waste management would facilitate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals. This paper aims to provide state-of-the-art research about circular waste management in the fulfillment of the 2030 Agenda. For this purpose, bibliometric analysis by VOSviewer and SciMat software is used to define the evolution and to detect research trends. Based on the main gaps identified in studies, a research agenda to guide for further opportunities in this field is suggested. The results obtained four clusters that address sustainable industrial infrastructure, biological waste management, recycling in developing countries and recovery processes. Four research propositions are established, focusing on plastic waste management and generation trends, circular municipal waste management, more sustainable landfill management, and enablers such as indicators and legislation. The transformation towards more bio and ecological models requires social, regulatory and organizational tools that consider the best interests and capacity of companies, public authorities and consumers. In addition, policy implications are considered.

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1 Introduction

Circular economy (CE) is a regenerative and restorative system, which allows the conservation of the value of raw materials by breaking with the concept of end-of-life of products, minimizing waste and emissions and increasing efficiency, through recycling, reusing, and remanufacturing, among others (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017 ). This paradigm represents a further step towards sustainability supported by its three fundamental pillars—economic, environmental and social sustainability (Muñoz-Torres et al. 2018 ). The circular system is based on the principle of material balance, seeking regeneration of natural systems, which implies the minimisation of waste and pollution. In this way, changes already begin to emerge in the design phase (Foschi et al. 2021 ) and go beyond the production system, reaching the development of new patterns of consumption and use by maintaining or reusing products and materials (Vanapalli et al. 2021 ). From an environmental economics point of view, it implies that all material or waste streams must be considered (Andersen 2007 ). Products have a longer lifetime, new applications and are reintroduced into the production system, closing the loop. The social aspect is fundamental to this, and coordination and cooperation with suppliers and customers must be facilitated (Martín Martín et al. 2022 ). In addition, making this new paradigm shift requires a new behavioural and cultural framework.

Waste management involves the transportation, collection, processing, disposal or recycling of waste materials, originating from industries, manufacturing processes and municipal solid waste. This process or system presents one of the main challenges in the transition towards circular business models (Smol et al. 2020 ). CE involves a waste management system that combines changes in the entire supply chain (Johansen et al. 2022 ), from designers and choice of materials to operators and recycling issues (Salmenpera et al. 2021 ).

Circular waste management comprises both the reduction in the generation of residual and household waste, but also the reintroduction of these wastes back into the production system. This reduction is achieved through the eco-design of products, by reducing waste generated in transport, by conserving material value through recycling and by achieving a longer lifetime of products (Salmenpera et al. 2021 ). Once the waste has been generated, it must be incorporated into the production system from the CE, either by using parts or as a source of energy through the reintroduction of biological waste, thus closing the material flow cycle (Zeller et al. 2019 ).

Although interest in waste management research, applying the principles of circularity, is growing, it is necessary to know state-of-the-art research trends in this area. Previous bibliometric or analytical method studies have analysed the relationship between “circularity and “waste” or “waste management” but from a different perspective to the research conducted. Recent studies have provided a qualitative view of the relationship but from very specific aspects -considering a type of waste, a geographical area or time period or one of the dimensions of sustainability-. Some research focuses on one type of waste such as Tsai et al. ( 2020 ) who analyse the link between municipal solid waste and the circular economy or Sundar et al. ( 2023 ) who examine e-waste. Ranjbari et al. ( 2021 ) examines the application of circularity in waste management, including the “closed loop” concept, up to 2020. Circular economy and closed-loop material cycles are deeply connected; however, the concept of closed-loop material cycles arose with the beginning of industrialization (Kara et al. 2022 ). Negrete‑Cardoso et al. ( 2022 ) considers “circular economy” to be related to “waste” and its impact on the post-Covid period. Chioatto and Sospiro ( 2023 ) discuss European economic policy issues that have promoted waste management from a circularity perspective. From a systematic literature review approach Di Vaio et al. ( 2023 ) analyse the accountability and management accounting practices of waste management related to the circular economy.

Our study presents three differentiating contributions with respect to previous studies. Firstly, we focused specifically on “circular economy” and “waste management” from a holistic perspective considering environmental, economic and social aspects. Secondly, by considering the year 2021 in the period under study, this includes one of the years with the most research on the effect of COVID-19 on waste management. The unprecedented increase of waste generated by this pandemic requires further research to enable the construction of a comprehensive circular economy model (Ranjbari et al. 2023 ). Thirdly, we established a relationship between our results and their contribution to the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda. Although previous work has recognised the contribution of circular waste management to the 2030 Agenda (Di Vaio et al. 2023 ), a full analysis of the contribution of research by specific targets has not been carried out. Further than considering the main topics of the 2030 Agenda in the different clusters obtained, this paper establishes the relationship between the Sustainable Global Goals (SDGs) associated with waste management and the different research streams found.

The purpose of this study is to provide state-of-the-art research on the relationship between circular economy and waste management. This bibliometric analysis examines the historical evolution of research and identifies trending themes to uncover the conceptual building blocks of this field. Moreover, is setting out a research agenda about future opportunities for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. This paper contributes to filling the existing gap on scientific literature for guiding research in the implementation of circular waste management, which is fundamental to achieving the goals outlined in the 2030 Agenda. Hence, considering the current scientific literature, we propose the following research questions:

RQ1. How does the scientific literature structure on waste management and circular economy align with the 2030 Agenda?

RQ2. What are the central topics and patterns within this research field?

RQ3. What are the main research trend topics in the domain?

RQ4. What is the research proposal on the relationship between circular waste management and the 2030 Agenda?

The paper is divided as follows: following the introduction, the literature overiew on waste management and 2030 Agenda is covered, then the methodology section is presented, describing the different phases of the process. The bibliometric results are exposed as productivity measures, considering the historical evolution of documents published in the field of waste management and circular economy and the most representative journals by authors sorted by institution, country, number of documents published and total citations. Through co-occurrence analysis, using VOSviewer software and SciMat software which displays strategic diagrams and clusters with the main motor, research topic trends in the field were identified whether basic, emerging or disappearing, and developed or isolated themes. Finally, discussions and conclusions within a research agenda are presented.

2 Waste management and Sustainable Development Goals

Waste generation has increased significantly in recent years in relation to consumer patterns, activities and lifestyles. Therefore, waste management is of great environmental value (Martín Martín et al. 2022 ). Inappropriate waste generation has negative environmental, social and economic impacts in terms of damage to biodiversity and pollution, human health problems and the costs involved, respectively. Coping with the costs of environmental and social impacts must be considered worse than developing new and more efficient waste management systems (Sharma et al. 2021 ). To reduce these negative effects, the introduction of sustainable and circular issues to manage waste generation, and the collection of waste throughout the life cycle of products is required (Tsai et al. 2021 ). This need has been accentuated by recent crises in areas such as health, safety and energy during 2021 and 2022 (Vanapalli et al. 2021 ; Gatto 2022 ; Mišík 2022 ). However, these adverse historical events provide an opportunity for reflection, forcing governments and businesses to promote long overdue energy and ecological transition policies and practices (Gatto 2022 ; Mišík 2022 ). Given the need to consolidate this trend, the implementation of circularity enhances sustainability and requires a new vision in waste management (Minoja and Romano 2021 ).

In 2015 the United Nations adopted Agenda 2030 as a roadmap to achieving higher levels of sustainability, striving towards satisfying its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the commitment of public actors, industry and society (Schulze et al. 2022 ). Several theories have been used in the literature to analyse these SDGs. Resource-based theory regarding natural resources is widely studied to examine waste practices that protect the environment (Agyabeng-Mensah et al. 2021 ). Due to the environmental impacts, some of the theories focus on pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour, such as social-practice theory (Munir 2022 ) and the theory of planned behaviour (Goh and Jie 2019 ). Regarding the association between SDGs and supply chains, a redesign towards sustainable practices is required. Transactions and economics theory have highlighted the need for changes to the decision-making process during production cycle stages to achieve sustainability goals. In addition, stakeholder and agency theories enable the achievement of SDGs, since both the collaboration and the alignment of interests in fulfilling the 2030 Agenda are required (Agrawal et al. 2022 ).

The relationship between waste management and the 2030 Agenda is closely linked, as it affects many SDGs. It is therefore essential that this relationship be studied. According to SDG 2, the listed items of: ‘end hunger, achieve food security, improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’ require, among other factors, the minimisation of food loss and food waste to achieve efficient and sustainable agricultural production. Similarly, factors such as increasing food availability or achieving more resilient food systems would facilitate this goal (Wieben 2016 ). SDG 3, ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’, in order to reduce illness linked to water, pollution and hazardous chemicals by means of smart waste management (Fatimah et al. 2020 ). SDG 6 ‘ensure access to water and sanitation for all’ aims to reduce the percentage of untreated wastewater and increase recycling and reuse (Tortajada 2020 ). SDG 7 ‘ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy’ proposes increasing the use of renewable energy and facilitating access to research on clean energy, including renewable sources (Taifouris and Martín 2023 ). SDG 9 ‘build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation’ advocates for the modernisation and conversion of industries towards cleaner and more sustainable models as they are required to use resources more efficiently and rationally (Dantas et al. 2021 ). SDG 11 ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’ focuses on building more sustainable cities, with particular attention to air quality and municipal and other waste management. This also implies resource efficiency and waste generation-collection services (Sharma et al. 2021 ). SDG 12, ‘ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns’ seeks to achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources. This goal emphasises the importance of reducing different types of waste throughout the life cycle of a product or service through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse activities (Principato et al. 2019 ). With regard to agro-food waste, a reduction of both food losses and food waste in the production and supply chains is proposed. SDG 13, ‘take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts’, can affect waste treatments relevant to their environmental impact through using greener and cleaner technologies, such as anaerobic digestion (Kakadellis et al. 2021 ). SDG 14, ‘conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources’ is also linked to plastic waste management, according to marine pollution minimisation. SDG 15, ‘sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss’ can be mitigated by protection and restoration, avoiding landfill waste. Finally, SDG 17 ‘revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development’, can be enhanced owing to waste treatment development, enabled by new treatments technologies (Sharma et al. 2021 ).

SDGs achievement is a priority and takes on even greater importance considering the fact that eight years prior to the deadline set in the 2030 Agenda, some reports show that we are still far from meeting most of the goals. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that around 35% of employment is a direct result of food systems and the promotion and implementation of sustainable practices in the food system -including food waste and loss- which is still low, referring to unfulfilled SDG 2 (Torero 2020 ). Uncollected waste is one of the major issues. In terms of municipal solid waste management, proper collection is key, as mismanagement of these services can lead to dumping into waters, which directly affects SDG 6 achievement (Sharma et al. 2021 ). To enable both sustainable energy and industrialisation a transition towards the use of renewable and cleaner energy is necessary. Waste can be adopted as an energy resource, such as biomass waste and pyrolysis (Moya et al. 2017 ). However, fossil fuels are still strongly present in several industries, which negatively impact on SDG 7, 9 and 11. Waste management systems’ disruptions in relation to current situations -COVID-19 pandemic and supply crisis- have minimised recovery and recycling activity. For instance, the plastic waste proliferation caused by the pandemic resulted in both water and air pollution, due to poor and non-effective waste management. Thus, SDG 12, 13 and 14 premises are failing (Sharma et al. 2021 ). This also adversely affects halting biodiversity loss and the land degradation (SDG 15). In addition, there are advances in waste treatment thanks to new technologies which are starting to be implemented. For instance, anaerobic digestion and waste-to-energy technologies (Moya et al. 2017 ), but their application is still scarce, not satisfying SDG 17. Consequently, there is an urgent need to take additional measures to facilitate the implementation of the various sustainable measures included in the plan.

3 Methodology

This study combines a bibliometric analysis carried out by VOSviewer and SciMat software, and an in-depth literature review of the articles published during the year 2021. Figure  1 shows the phases of this work: Phase 1) data collection, phase 2) bibliometric analysis, and phase 3) systematic literature review and research agenda.

Methodological process

3.1 Data collection

In the first phase, documents from the Web of Science Core Collection database were collected from the period 2009 up to September 2021. The keywords used were ‘circular economy’ and ‘waste management’. This generated a total of 1.395 papers. Then, it was selected articles by topic, which includes title, abstract and authors’ keywords. retrieving 966 documents. Thereafter, we sorted the data into groups of Social Sciences Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, Arts and Humanities Citation Index, taking only articles into consideration, reaching a total sample of 576 articles that were extracted and including in this analysis after a double checked in order to eliminate inconsistences.

3.2 Bibliometric analysis

Bibliometric methodology identifies research trends providing the knowledge structure about a specific field. By examining recent published articles, network analysis shows emerging fields (Hettiarachchi et al. 2022 ). In the second phase, bibliometric approach was performed using VOSviewer and SciMat software to understand the latest trends in the fields of waste management and circular economy. VOSviewer is more visual and allows for the examination of co-occurrence, analysis of authors, institutions and countries (Van Eck and Waltman 2010 ). In this paper, SciMat completes VOSviewer analysis since it carries out the co-occurrence analysis in time periods and the evolution of these periods can be seen on an evolution map. Additionally, SciMat illustrates strategic diagrams which uncover the main research themes (Cobo et al. 2012 ). Furthermore, it allows one to observe the clusters of each keyword, making the analysis more complete and comprehensive.

Following on from this, VOSviewer conducts a citation analysis of the most representative journals and the most prolific authors and from here, a co-occurrence analysis is displayed. Via the SciMat tool a co-word analysis is also developed, displaying the strategic diagrams and clusters with relevant keywords, divided up into three periods according to the number of documents published, years 2009–2019 (Period 1), 2020 (Period 2) and 2021 (Period 3).

In the third and last phase, a literature review of the articles related to circular economy and waste management is carried out, in accordance with 51 documents from the motor themes of the SciMat analysis in the third period, during the year 2021, to determine the latest trends and research in the field. Finally, a research agenda is exposed regarding trending topics analysed in this work.

4 Bibliometric results and productivity measures

Figure  2 shows the historical evolution of documents published in the field of waste management and circular economy from 2009 to September 2021, considering a total sample of 576 articles. Waste management towards circularity is gaining momentum in academia according to the number of documents published in the field since 2015, coinciding with ‘The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ (United Nations 2015 ). In addition, other European strategies and legislative challenges took place, such as ‘Communication on closing the loop. An EU action plan for the Circular Economy’ (European Commission 2015 ) and ‘Communication on a monitoring framework for the Circular Economy’ (European Commission 2018 ) considering waste management as one of the main challenges in the transition to circular business models.

Historical evolution of publications in the field of waste management and circular economy

Table 1 shows the ten most representative journals sorted by number of total documents published and citations. These journals represent 60,25% of the total sample formed by 132 sources. The Journal of Cleaner Production is the most influential with 79 articles published in the field of circular economy and waste management, and a total of 1.343 cites. It should be noted that almost all sources belong to the "environmental sciences" category. None of the most cited journals belong to the social sciences.

The most influential authors are sorted by number of documents published and total citations, indicating the institutions and country which they work in, and the h-index –impact and productivity measure-. The most prolific author is Navarro Ferronato from the University of Insubria in Italy with 9 papers published and a total of 129 cites, followed by Vicenzo Torreta (8, 129) from the same institution. The prevalence of Italian researchers is in line with the country's overall recycling rate for all types of waste which reaches 68%, well above the EU average (57%) published in the “Third Report on the Italian circular economy in 2021” (ENEA 2021 ). Additionally, in 2020 several legislative decrees came into force that facilitated the implementation of EU directives on waste and the circular economy.

Institutions include the University of Hong Kong whose role in integrated and sustainable waste management is significant both at the research level (Hossain et al. 2021 ) and practical level in running the campus and encouraging waste reduction and recycling among all stakeholders (The University of Hong Kong 2021 ).

5 Research trend topics in the field

5.1 co-occurrence analysis by vosviewer software.

Co-occurrence analyses the most frequent keywords in a research field regarding their jointly mention, represented by clusters (Callon et al. 1983 ). This method is widely used to identify research trend topics about a particular subject area according to the keyword frequency (Donthu et al. 2021 ). The closer two items are from each other, the higher the connection. Accordingly, those keywords with a higher association appear closer.

This analysis used the full counting network technique which points the total number of occurrences a concept appears in all documents. The normalisation parameter method with association strength was performed by VOSviewer, to normalise the link strength between keywords (Van Eck and Waltman 2010 ).

Performing the analysis, different occurrence thresholds have been used to observe the network structure. VOSviewer software permits to perform a data cleaning to visualise a map created by text data merging terms using a thesaurus file (Van Eck and Waltman 2010 ). In our co-occurrence analysis we created a thesaurus to merge different keywords referring to the same item, such as ‘LCA’ and ‘life cycle assessment’, or ‘municipal solid waste’ and ‘municipal-solid waste’. Finally, a minimum of 13 occurrences of a keyword has been chosen from 2.868 words. 41 keywords met the threshold that represents the main items of each cluster. The keywords are divided up into main four groups of clusters coloured in red, green, blue and yellow in Fig.  3 . The red cluster named ‘Industrial ecology and more sustainable infrastructure’ -SDG 9- focuses on the circular economy and industrial ecology with the aim of making industrial buildings and construction and demolition waste more sustainable, and on the challenges and barriers posed by these new models. The green cluster ‘Waste management through biological and assessment processes’ -SDGs 6, 7, 11 and 12- links the food waste and municipal solid waste and how anaerobic digestion and biogas can achieve a reduction in the use of energy and low emissions. Water treatment is associated with optimisation through new technologies. These studies use the life cycle assessment as a main tool for measurement. Sustainable development and recycling, considering indicators and behaviors in developing countries are shown in the blue cluster named ‘Sustainable development and recycling in developing countries’ -SDG 12-. Finally, the cluster in yellow studies the need to establish new policies and designs that would allow for improved waste management through resource recovery, such as the extension of producer responsibility beyond the sale of the product or service. It is therefore titled ‘New procedures for the recovery of resources’ -SDG 12-.

Co-occurrence analysis of keywords by vosviewer

5.2 Strategic diagrams and motor themes by SciMat software

Science mapping analysis displays how items from a particular field are linked to each other, determining the evolution and cognitive structure (Small 1999 ). In this study, keywords are the items used. The bibliometric mapping tool used to show the strategic diagrams is SciMat software. From the set of documents, it generates a knowledge base, in this case, the relationships between keywords are stored following a co-occurrence analysis. SciMat software grouped by plural to find similar items during the de-duplicating process (Cobo et al. 2012 ). For instance, keywords such as system and systems.

SciMat tracks a longitudinal framework that analyses the conceptual and intellectual evolution of a field. The normalisation measure chosen was the equivalence index. And to obtain the scientific map and the associated clusters and subnets, the clustering algorithm method followed was simple centers algorithm. The analysis is performed dividing the sample into three periods: period 1 with a total of 214 articles of year 2009 up to year 2019, period 2 with 155 articles of the year 2020, and period 3 with 189 articles of the year 2021. From a sample of 2,819 words, a total of 77 words have been considered, selecting only keywords with a minimum of 10 associated documents. As can be seen in Fig.  4 , the stability index (0.99 and 0.99) indicates that there is a balance between the number of words from one period to the next.

Overlapping map. Periods 1, 2 and 3 by scimat software

The evolution map shows the results of the longitudinal analysis. The thick lines show the clusters that share a main theme, and the dashed lines are those that share themes other than the main theme (Cobo et al. 2012 ). In the first period the motor theme is circular economy, while in the second period the focus is on municipal solid waste.

Figure  5 shows the difference between periods 1 and 2, from the more general to the more specific, with municipal solid waste oriented towards sustainable development -SDG 11-. In the third period focus returns to circular economy, with more dispersion apparent than in period 2, yet more specificity, as the number of clusters expands again. The massive generation of plastic waste generated during COVID-19 (Khoo et al. 2021 ; Vanapalli et al. 2021 ) could explain the interest in municipal solid waste management during period 2 and the emergence of concepts with plastics management in period 3. As a result, an evolution from the first period can be observed, with a strong focus on the implementation of circular economy and energy generation towards a circular economy centered on municipal solid waste.

Evolution map. Periods 1 and 2 by scimat software

This analysis is focused on the third period to gain better attention about the recent evolution of this field. Figure  6 shows a strategic diagram of Period 3 (year 2021) with four quadrants of the main thematic nodes according to the co-word analysis performed by SciMat. The strategic diagram displays the motor themes: ‘circular economy’, ‘life cycle assessment’ and ‘China’, developed thereafter, the basic themes: ‘recovery’ as a very specific and underdeveloped topic, it suggests a strategy towards circularity that is beginning to be considered, because many policies were only focused on promoting recycling (Ghisellini et al. 2016 ). The emerging or disappearing themes: ‘generation’, an emerging theme related to e-waste which is working on the reuse of products -SDG 12-, but circular economy is not applied in-depth. Regarding sustainable development and waste management, the environmental impacts are still a very large gap in the literature; ‘plastic waste’ is an emerging theme for circular economy, and it is studied within the pyrolysis and recycling process and new designs to improve the circularity -SDG 9 and 12-. ‘Sector’ appears as an isolated theme from circular economy, the literature is very cohesive in density due to its links with waste management case studies in different industries -SDG 9-.

Strategic diagram. Period 3 (2021) by scimat software

Based on Fig.  6 ‘circular economy’, ‘China’ and ‘life cycle assessment’ appear as motor themes. These keywords present high density and centrality, thus they have been intensively and highly studied in literature. Which is why the following analysis is focused on them. ‘Circular economy’ is linked with ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ according to the origin of circularity (Ghisellini et al. 2016 ). Likewise, the keyword ‘recycling’ relates to circular economy as a part of 3Rs principles, due to circular policies and their focus on recycling practices and strategies rather than other options -SDG 12-. ‘Municipal solid waste’ and ‘management’ is one of the most developed topics in the studies analysed and published during 2021 towards circular economy -SDG 11-.

‘China’ is a pioneering country in the implementation of circular economy policies, and strategies based on sustainability (Lieder and Rashid 2016 ). From a broad CE perspective, the country has incorporated these schemes due to the country’s rapid industrialisation and its growing efforts in research (McDowall et al. 2017 ). Indeed, the country is the largest producer of municipal solid waste (Wang et al. 2021 ) increased by COVID-19 (Vanapalli et al. 2021 ) and given its large industrial sector. The country is developing research that allows it to establish symbiotic relationships, to find new ways of using resources or converting waste into energy -SDG 7, 9 and 11-. It would be framed within the so-called industrial symbiosis, defined as the process by which waste from one industry or industrial process is converted into raw material for another (Provin et al. 2021 ).

‘Life cycle assessment’ appears far removed from circular economy, focusing more on waste demolition and construction management (Ahmed and Zhang 2021 ; Lu et al. 2021 ) -SDG 9-, and on plastic waste generation (Hossain et al. 2021 ; Pincelli et al. 2021 ).

6 Review analysis

A systematic literature review was performed, considering the core documents with highest impact –those that appear at a minimum two nodes (Cobo et al. 2012 )- from SciMat report. Selecting those articles from the three clusters that are presented as motor themes for period 3 (year 2021): ‘circular economy’, ‘China’ and ‘life cycle assessment’. Firstly, it was considered those papers with at least one citation (N = 51). Secondly, an in-depth analysis of those articles was carried out, compiling findings and future research lines of the 20 leading articles by number of citations (Table 2 ) according to the SciMat core documents.

Citation analysis is a measurement widely used that considers a paper highly cited as relevant in a field (Zupic and Cater 2014 ), enabling us to evaluate the influence of a research topic. Also is used as a tool to detect emerging and research trends (Chen 2006 ).

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) -SDG 11- is one of the main topics. Many of the papers related are case studies such as Vardopoulos et al. ( 2021 ) which developed a Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model to evaluate and assess the Municipal Solid Waste practices in Greek municipalities. Abou Taleb and Al Farooque ( 2021 ) concentrate on full cost accounting in 27 Egypt councils designing pricing model ‘Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT)’ for municipal waste recycling. Wielgosinski et al. ( 2021 ) performed an analysis of the Polish municipal solid waste management through a balance model for assessing the impact of increasing the level of recycling, whilst Istrate et al. ( 2021 ) studied the municipal solid waste management in Madrid with a material flow analysis. Similarly, Tong et al. ( 2021 ) analyses the solid waste management system and the cause-effect relationship of households in Vietnam. Di Foggia and Beccarello ( 2021 ) highlighted the fact that the waste management chain in Italy focuses on waste-to-energy plants, calculating market measures towards circularity. In addition, in the region of Brescia, Italy, Bertanza et al. ( 2021 ) examined the evolution of municipal solid waste evolution with mass flow analysis of medium firms. Solid waste management in Brazilian universities is explored in the Nolasco et al. ( 2021 ) paper, which developed a qualitative-quantitative analysis, identifying factors of university campus waste management.

Plastic waste management is greatly studied in connection with circularity practices in many of the articles published during 2021, such as the case studies carried out by Foschi et al. ( 2021 ) on the Emilia Romagna plastic waste recycling system, following the European Commission Plastic Strategy. Similarly, Wu et al. ( 2021 ) outlines how Taiwan achieves circular economy in plastic waste from an industrial level, owing to collective bricolage. Some of the papers outline COVID-19 and the excessive use of plastics, coinciding with the most cited article of the sample (Vanapalli et al. 2021 ) which address COVID-19 plastic waste generation and the use of more sustainable technologies. The Khoo et al. ( 2021 ) paper provides recommendations for adopting effective plastic waste management due to excessive use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pikon et al. ( 2021 ) shows the influence of COVID-19 on waste management from an economic impact perspective, highlighting the changes in municipal solid waste during the pandemic in the Polish market. Furthermore, increasing attention is being paid to biodegradable plastics as an alternative to conventional plastics. Ghosh and Jones ( 2021 ) examine upcoming trends, potential future scenarios, and the material value chain perspective of biodegradable plastics, whilst Kakadellis et al. ( 2021 ) categorizes qualitative data about biodegradable plastic strategies in United Kingdom -SDG 12-.

In the studies examined, the management of food waste is also analysed -SDG 11 and 12.- Zarba et al. ( 2021 ) analyses the Italian agri-food effectiveness towards circular economy regulatory; Provin et al. ( 2021 ) examines the reuse of food industry waste for the manufacture of biotextiles in the framework of the circular economy and the SDGs. This inter-industry collaboration would be part of the industrial symbiosis referred to above -SDG 9-.

In a similar vein, and related to SDG 9, the last process analysed by the most cited studies is the pyrolysis process, which allows thermal degradation of waste, associated with landfill mining, extracting valuable materials from the remains of materials deposited in landfills (Jagodzinska et al. 2021 ). Martínez ( 2021 ) discusses the opportunities and challenges of pyrolysis in Latin America.

7 Discussion

This section is based on the results obtained from the bibliometric clusterisation, and the review of the 20 most cited articles. The number of articles published in the field have increased since 2015, corresponding to the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals focused on improving and achieving education, health, economic growth and reducing inequality, as well as preserving forests and oceans (United Nations 2015 ). It is also remarkable to note the growth between years 2019 and 2021 due to new strategies and worldwide circular policies implemented in the field of waste management, such as the ‘Circular Economy Action Plan for a greener and more competitive Europe’ based on the prevention of waste and seeking improved local waste and raw material management (EU 2020 ; Camana et al. 2021 ). Although the "Agenda 2030" or "SDG" themes were not found in any of the clusters, the rest of the themes are closely related to their fulfilment. Moreover, circular waste management not only contributes to several SDGs, but also creates synergies between the goals.

A significant trend in the literature has focused on waste recycling (SDG 11 and 12), which is essential, yet insufficient if sustainable production and consumption is to be achieved by 2030. The main research topics analysed in the articles published during year 2021 focus on (1) Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) with the design of new municipal waste recycling models such as the Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) pricing model (Abou Taleb and Al Farooque 2021 ), (2) the importance of plastic waste (Khoo et al. 2021 ) and its recovery as a tool in the implementation of circularity principles (Ferreira et al. 2021 ), increased by the generation of plastic waste during the COVID-19 pandemic (Khoo et al. 2021 ), and (3) the reduction of food waste or its application in bio-textiles (Provin et al. 2021 ) or as an energy source -SDG 9 and 11-.

Going one step further should be considered in achieving further targets of this goal. On the one hand, a reduction in waste generation and a search for more sustainable disposal options for waste that cannot be recycled are required, e.g., through new processes such as waste pyrolysis (Jagodzinska et al. 2021 ) -SDG 9-. On the other hand, extending the lifetime of products by finding additional, new uses for them, eliminating planned obsolescence or repairing the product at a cost lower than buying a new product (Ghisellini et al. 2016 ) -SDG 12. Complementarily, waste generated in one sector can be used as a raw material in another sector or as a source of energy in the case of organic waste -SDG 7 and 9-.

8 Research agenda

The research agenda provides guidance to scholars in future related-research directions. The agenda is based on the previous in-depth analysis of the 20 articles included in the review. Considering the analysis and the ensuing discussion, the following proposal is put forward for the circular management of waste management to accelerate the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda. Moreover, this could fill gaps and give opportunities for further development. Figure 7 collects the research agenda propositions.

Research agenda propositions diagram

8.1 New trends in plastic waste management and generation (SDG 12)

One of the most researched materials in the most cited papers is the use of plastic -6 of the 20 papers analyse this issue-. Firstly, because of the significant increase in waste associated with it after COVID-19 (Vanapalli et al. 2021 ; Khoo et al. 2021 ). Secondly, because of the need to progressively replace it with other materials such as biodegradable plastics, which implies the use of renewable raw materials. In short, solutions must be proposed to current plastic waste, the quantity of which threatens the habitat of numerous species, and measures must be taken to curb its expansion and offer alternatives in sustainable materials.

It is worth noting that no studies have been found that analyse the legislative challenges associated with the progressive elimination of plastic in products such as bags or single-use items.

Proposition 1: To deepen new trends in plastic waste management and generation.

8.2 New pathways in the circular management of municipal waste (SDG 7, 9, 11 and 12)

The second line of the proposal relates to circular municipal waste management -SDG 11-, a topic of great interest in recent research (Abou Taleb and Al Farooque 2021 ), growing due to recent global crises. However, the approach that has analysed this topic focuses mainly on waste recycling.

A broader focus is needed, considering other alternatives such as the reduction of waste generation, reuse and the use of Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) as a raw material or energy source in other sectors. Compared to incineration, which is highly polluting if the organic waste is mixed with other types of waste, there are more sustainable and energy-efficient alternatives such as anaerobic digestion (Kakadellis et al. 2021 ) -SDG 7-. This requires consumer awareness and training –SDG 12- in waste separation, adequate facilities for the process and greater cooperation between industries (Foschi et al. 2021 ; Vanapalli et al. 2021 ) For the latter option, it is recommended that tools such as industrial symbiosis be explored in greater depth -SDG 9-.

Proposition 2: To expand the alternatives towards more sustainable options in municipal waste management with the cooperation of consumers and industries.

8.3 Towards more sustainable landfill management (SDG 7, 9 and 11)

In contrast to traditional landfill management, new infrastructures, treatments and smart technologies are proposed to improve recycling and waste disposal. Among them, (1) the construction of waste-to-energy plants makes it possible to burn solid waste to power electricity generators (Di Foggia and Beccarello 2021 ) –SDG 7-; (2) pyrolysis process for thermal degradation of waste, reducing waste accumulation (Jagodzinska et al. 2021 ) –SDG 11- or (3) Industry 4.0 can be applied in waste treatment -SDG 9- for more efficient technique of separation models in waste management addressing circular economy practices (Wang et al. 2021 ). This line of research has a profound relationship with municipal waste management, given the importance of municipal waste in current landfills.

Proposition 3: To improve the operation and efficiency of landfills through new infrastructures, treatments and technological tools.

8.4 Establishment of enablers in the implementation of circularity: Design of indicators and development of legislation (SDG 12)

Optimising waste management processes requires the establishment of measurement indicators. These indicators should be of a different nature and go beyond the economic or environmental quantification of targets. They should include social aspects such as awareness raising (Loizia et al. 2021 ; Van Straten et al. 2021 ). Additionally, along with technological and economic tools, the creation of a legislative framework is a critical factor in the implementation of circularity in waste management operations (Salmenpera et al. 2021 ; Woodard 2021 ).

Proposition 4: Establishment of measurement and policy enablers.

9 Conclusions

Circular waste management focuses on reducing the amount of waste generated and reintroducing the waste, once treated, as new material or energy in production, keeping the material in a cyclical flow within the same or another sector (Demirbas 2011 ; Salmenpera et al. 2021 ). It, therefore, implies reaching a new level of treatment, complementing the recycling option with a holistic view of the problem. The application of circularity principles in waste management can contribute significantly to the fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda, as it impacts several of the SDGs -6, 7, 9, 11 and 12-.

According to the research questions presented, the scientific literature structure of the field of waste management and circular economy (RQ1) has been analysed, showing that the most productive sources come from the field of environmental sciences, which conditions the main topics investigated and shows a clear lack of attention to social sciences. The most prolific authors come from two countries with a strong interest in environmental research in general and waste management in particular—Italy and China. In the case of China, this is due to its strong productive fabric and a prominent role in the generation of waste from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Concerning RQ2, four clusters have been obtained related to industrial ecology -SDG 9-, waste management from the application of bio-based processes -SDGs 6, 7, 11 and 12-, water treatment, sustainable development and recycling in developing countries -SDG 12- and the cluster on new procedures for the recovery of resources -SDG 12-.

To conduct analysis of the central topics and the patterns we used SciMat software, dividing the articles published in the field into three periods (2009–2019, 2020 and 2021) showing the scientific literature development, as can be seen in the evolution map (Fig.  5 ). The motor themes showed in the strategic diagram of the third period are circular economy, life cycle assessment and China; recovery is a basic theme; the emerging themes are generation and plastic waste; and sector is a developed theme. Referring to RQ3, the results provided from the systematic literature review are in line with the central topics pointed out previously. Many of the studies published during 2021 pertain to motor themes circular economy and China, and to plastic waste as an emerging theme.

The most cited articles and the previous bibliometric analysis have shown the great interest generated among scientists in the management of urban waste and plastic waste, which has increased in the last two years in relation to sanitary waste. The circular economy means that recycling is not enough in the management of this waste. In addition to the reduction in the generation of waste, the incorporation of the "bio" concept in its treatment, which allows fibres, bioplastics and other biomaterials to be obtained, has been added. Along the same lines, the treatment of food waste allows it to be converted into animal feed, biofuels or even textiles. However, among the most cited articles, no research related to the use and recycling of wastewater was found -SDG 6-. Further research is needed to enable its use for biomass production or as a source of nutrients for micro-organisms of interest (Kaszycki et al. 2021 ).

The establishment of three research propositions completes this research (RQ4). In this way, it is crucial to develop three fundamental aspects. First, the use of new technologies to meet the various needs raised. Secondly, a new approach to urban waste management is required. And thirdly, to develop research from a holistic perspective that will require the use of theories and sciences from the environmental, social and economic fields.

9.1 Theoretical contributions

The results of this study offer academic contributions about circular waste management. Among the theoretical contributions is the establishment of state-of-the-art research on waste management linked to the circular economy, which will guide future research and fill existing gaps. To offer the most complete research review possible, a mixed methodology—bibliometric and systematic review of the most cited recent research—has been used. A bibliometric analysis was carried out with two software tools, taking advantage of the potential of both. Using complementary software validates the analysis results. In addition, this article provides a framework for research as a guiding point in waste management.

Thus, lack of social research is a major drawback that requires urgent incorporation of new social or multidisciplinary studies. It can be considered that social and economic issues have not been sufficiently addressed in the literature. None of the clusters obtained have these dimensions as their motor theme. Dropping SDGs such as 8 -decent work and economic growth-.

9.2 Practical contributions

A guideline for practitioners about circular waste management is required. Findings reveal the need for a reference framework for scholars, practitioners and institutions.

This article implies practical contributions for governments to achieve a transition towards more circular waste management. The research shows the technical feasibility of substituting certain materials, mainly plastic, or applying techniques that allow a step beyond recycling. It is necessary to focus on actions based on recovery, reduction, remanufacturing and redesign of plastic waste to fill this gap (Olatayo et al. 2022 ). Highlight the policy spillover effect, which means that support for some public fees—for example, plastic bag fees—may imply greater support for other environmental policies related to waste reduction (Thomas et al. 2019 ). This could facilitate positive transitions towards environmental behavioural changes. In addition, public–private coordination is required in the implementation of new legislation (Foschi et al. 2021 ).

The significant "bio" trend has spread to different types of waste and sectors. Thus, the circular management of waste will require the development of infrastructures, technologies and processes oriented to its application, which means waste management with less environmental impact, but also a generation of value of the product derived from the waste. This value can be manifested in new products -whether or not related to the original sector of the product from which the waste is derived- or renewable and sustainable energies (Ferreira et al. 2021 ; Kaszycki et al. 2021 ). For this, these processes require the establishment of cooperation tools between industries in such a way that we can establish symbiosis between them (Provin et al. 2021 ).

9.3 Limitations and future research lines

Addressing the limitations of this study, it’s worth underscoring the fact that WoS was the exclusive Database used to retrieve the final sample under analysis, and only articles published in English are studied, other languages were not considered. Despite the use of VOSviewer to display the co-occurrence analysis, the interpretation of the results is subjective, in accordance with the papers reviewed. In future works, other software can be combined such as CiteSpace or HistCite to visually create scientific maps.

Regarding future research lines, the following aspects are considered a research agenda in the field of waste management and circular economy. The need to incorporate into waste management from a circular perspective such as: circular bioeconomy models, the construction of more robust eco-efficiency indicators to improve measurement and comparison between regions, and the consideration of new processes and techniques in the management of urban, food and plastic waste. Research is also required to manage waste in the construction and demolition of buildings and infrastructures from a sustainably innovative standpoint.

The challenges facing waste management in meeting the 2030 Agenda are considerable. Circular economy facilitates the pathway but is not a miracle tool. The contribution of companies and industries requires the collaboration and awareness of consumers. To this end, public institutions must generate policies, regulations and incentives that create the most favorable framework possible. Having already surpassed half of the set timeframe towards meeting the SDG targets, urgent measures are required, and the Academy must lend its support in this regard.

Data availability

Data was retrieved from Web of Sciences database.

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González-Sánchez, R., Alonso-Muñoz, S. & Medina-Salgado, M.S. Circularity in waste management: a research proposal to achieve the 2030 Agenda. Oper Manag Res 16 , 1520–1540 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-023-00373-0

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• Published: 14 May 2024

Characteristics and management of municipal solid waste in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria

• Uduak Bassey 1 , 2 ,
• Abasi-ofon Tom 4 ,
• Udemeobong Okono 3 ,
• Mbetobong John 3 ,
• Maja Sinn 5 ,
• Ayoge Bassey 6 ,
• Uduak Luke 3 &
• Satyanarayana Narra 1  

Scientific Reports volume  14 , Article number:  10971 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Environmental impact
• Environmental sciences
• Sustainability

Increased urbanization and population lead to increased consumption of manufactured goods. This ultimately results in increased production of waste. Identifying its composition is crucial for planning an effective solid waste management strategy. This study assesses the characteristics and composition of the waste generated within the Uyo Capital City Development Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. This is to aid in developing a scientifically supported waste management pilot system for the state. Direct waste sorting and characterization were conducted on the municipal solid waste arriving at the landfill during the study period. Over 50% of the generated wastes are recyclables and composed of plastics, metals, and paper, while the fraction of organic waste is over 30%. Similarly, the waste generation per capita is 1.34 kg/person/day, while the generation forecast over the next ten years is estimated to increase by approximately 40%. Furthermore, over 9,000 surveys were completed by residents to establish a problem statement about the existing waste collection and disposal system, and possible solutions. Importantly, a majority of survey respondents were willing to source-separate their wastes and supported paying a fee for adequate waste collection. This strongly indicates that an integrated waste management system could be established to generate value from the collected waste. Supplementary revenue can be generated through composting, recycling, and land reclamation.

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Introduction.

Increasing population and rural-to-urban migration in developing countries is bound to result in increased municipal solid waste (MSW) generation, an effect already established in Nigeria. The annual worldwide MSW generation is projected to increase steadily from about 2.0 billion metric tons in 2016 to 3.4 billion metric tons in 2050 as shown in Fig.  1 . Similarly, Nigeria generates about 25 million tons of municipal solid waste annually, and this number is expected to double by 2040 1 . Several waste management methods are practiced around the world today. Waste, by definition unwanted or unusable materials, can range from solids to liquids and gases. Municipal solid waste consists of unwanted solid remains retrieved from household & office residents, and retail and commercial business establishments in a municipality. MSW poses a great challenge with regards to its management and has been identified as one of the major challenges to reaching sustainability targets 3 . Several classes of municipal solid wastes, based on the sources of the waste generation, have been presented in literature 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 . Across regions and municipalities, there is great variation of MSW in composition and it can be generally divided into biodegradable and non-biodegradable components. Nevertheless, typical MSW streams consist of metals, rubbers and plastics, kitchen waste, glass waste, yard waste, electronic waste, paper, cardboard, and others 2 . In Nigeria, very limited literature on the characteristics of MSW exists, as any existing effort is hampered by the difficulty in management of waste. These sources have been attributed to improper waste disposal, inefficient method of waste collection and insufficient coverage of waste existing collection systems 9 . Furthermore, the rate of waste generation in Nigeria has been relatively unknown as a result of limited studies; however, a decade and a half ago, it was reported that the rate of waste generation is Nigeria was in the range between 0.44 and 0.66 kg/capita/day with the waste density ranging between 200 and 400 kg/m 3 , 9 , 10 . Ever since, there has been some reluctance in characterizing the wastes generated in Nigeria. However, with the population of Nigeria increasing at an incline, coupled with increased industrialization and commercialization of Nigeria’s economy, it has been noted that more waste is also being generated 11 , 12 . Consequently, this study seeks to address the waste management situation in Nigeria by analyzing characteristics and composition of the waste generated in the city of Uyo in Akwa Ibom state. The specific waste management methods are reviewed in the next section, and the MSW of the study area is characterized following the methodology described below. Furthermore, suggestions on ways of improving waste management in Uyo are presented.

Projected generation of municipal solid waste worldwide from 2016 to 2050 (in billion metric tons) (source: Statista 2023).

Municipal solid waste management strategies

MSW management approaches in different regions and countries are connected to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), income and population of the assessed country. It describes the process of waste management from generation to disposal. Hence, there is significant variation in MSW management between developed and developing countries. Nanda & Berutti 2 summarizes the MSW management stages as:

Waste generation;

Waste retrieval (collection) and handling; and

Waste disposal, including waste treatment and processing.

Furthermore, MSW management methods are summarized as:

Mechanical recycling or diversion;

Waste-to-energy (WTE) conversion;

Landfilling;

Incineration; and

The following section summarizes the principles of the methods highlighted above.

Mechanical recycling

Mechanical recycling involves the conversion of solid waste into a purified or different form without necessarily altering the chemical composition of the parent material 13 . A typical instance could be the integration of ground water sachets (made from low-density polyethylene materials) into molded bricks to improve brick strength and toughness. These granules from the water packaging material represent a form of recycled material devoid of alteration in chemical composition. The application of similar sorts of recycling methods is limited, hence, this method of MSW measurement is uncommon and not suitable to make use of a significant amount of the MSW bulk.

Waste-to-energy conversion

This is the transformation of waste to useful energy such as electrical, biological, chemical and others. There exist various methods of converting waste to energy such as organic or food waste using biogas, plastics and other combustibles using thermochemical methods and to solid residual fuels (SRFs). Popular thermochemical conversion methods include pyrolysis and gasification. Pyrolysis involves thermal degradation of materials at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Typical pyrolysis products depend on the feed stream composition and usually include pyrolysis oil, char, tar, and gases 6 . Detailed descriptions of pyrolysis of MSW are presented in literature 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 . On the other hand, gasification is a process whereby a carbon-containing material (CCM) is converted into syngas under limited oxygen conditions and at high temperatures. Like pyrolysis, product composition depends on the composition of the feed stream 6 . Detailed description of thermochemical treatment is presented in literature 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 . Various variations in the thermochemical processes mentioned exist, and a detailed description of these variations are presented in literature 6 . It is worthy to note that these technologies are common in developed economies and are gradually being introduced in developing ones.

Incineration

Incineration is a widely used method to treat waste due to its potential of reducing waste by over 90% volume 6 . It is the combustion of waste materials in the presence of oxygen and is usually performed in specially designed incineration plants in developed countries. In underdeveloped countries, this can be performed in open dumps. While it usually presents a cheaper mode of waste destruction, it is strongly plagued by environmental pollution, i.e., the release of harmful substances and toxins, and is hence not an advisable method except when sufficient pollution abatement procedures are put in place 34 , 35 . MSW incineration has been reported as an energy recovery method, although this is no longer commonly practiced. However, sufficient literature on MSW incineration exists 36 , 37 , 38 .

Landfilling

Landfilling has been a dominant MSW disposal method, which stems from the comparatively high cost of alternative treatment or disposal alternatives. Similarly, this has been the dominant waste disposal method in developing countries 39 . It refers to the process of dumping solid waste on a site reserved for such purposes. There exist various classifications of landfills depending on the source of waste, e.g. a MSW landfill. Some additional features that may be integrated into the management process include equipment, staff, high-level control engineering, pollution abatement controls, leachate containment capabilities, etc. Various classifications exist, and these are based on conventions defined using characteristics of the landfill. The prominent classifications are those set out by the Malaysian Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the United Nations. More details for this convention can be obtained from literature 40 , 41 , 42 . A summary of the modified application of the classification system adapted from Idowu et al., 2019 is presented in Table 1 below. While landfills have existed from early ages, the concept has been modernized in well-managed and engineered facilities for solid waste disposal 43 . Another aspect of modern landfills is monitoring and management of landfills after closure with particular focus on aftercare strategies. A full description of this can be seen in literature 44 . A summary of the management procedures over the lifetime of a landfill is illustrated in Fig.  2 .

Various management phases over MSW landfill life cycle. Adapted from Laner et al. 44 .

Current state of waste management in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State

The Environmental Protection and Management Agency of the state of Akwa Ibom (AKSEPWMA) uses landfills as its main waste management method, with minimal resource recovery effort. There is no recorded home-waste collection system in place in most neighbourhoods; rather, general disposal bins are provided in central locations spread out within the capital city of Uyo. The waste containers are subsequently emptied into the landfill facility. Based on the various landfill classification types presented in Table 1 , the classification of the landfill under study is Low class—Semi controlled—facility evidenced by presence of staff onsite, but absence of proper high-level control systems and devices. This section highlights the procedure for this waste management method.

Factors affecting waste generation

Waste generation is affected by several factors. Afroz et al., in their work noted the following (with the first two as most important), using Dhaka city, Bangladesh as case study 45 :

Income: Here, a positive relationship was observed, and it was argued that from reason, increased income will result in greater demand for goods and services for convenience purposes.

Household size: Here, a positive relationship was observed with reasonable implication that a direct proportionality exists between household size and waste generation.

Willingness to separate the waste: Here, the contribution of this factor was significant and Afroz et el., presented that this could be explained by the fact that households willing to separate wastes (for reuse) at home will ultimately generate less waste.

Environmental concern: Here, this factor was observed to be significant and supported the hypothesis by Afroz et al., that the respondents who cared about environmental sustainability will generate less waste and ultimately improve the waste management program.

Additionally personal attitudes and other factors like education, average living cost, cultural patterns, age structure of households, and population have also been observed in literature to affect waste generation 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 .

Methodology

Uyo is the capital of Akwa Ibom state in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. It lies approximately on latitudes 4°58'N and 5°04'N and longitudes 7°51'E and 8°01'E. The capital city shares a boundary to the north with Ikono, Itu and Ibiono Ibom Local Government Areas (LGA). To the east and west, it shares boundaries with Uruan and Abak LGA respectively. In the south, it is bounded by Ibesikpo-Asutan, Etinan and Nsit-Ibom LGAs (see Fig.  3 b). Uyo Capital City Development Area (UCCDA) (see Fig.  3 a) is made up of Uyo and parts of eight other LGAs 52 . For a detailed overview of the LGAs included in the definition of UCCDA for the purposes of this study, in which these parts of other LGAs contribute to the waste at the landfill in question, see Supplementary Table 1 . The last population census in Nigeria took place in 2006. The current projected population of UCCDA is estimated to be about 1,412,000, with an average annual growth rate of 3.4% 52 , 53 . Uyo has a tropical humid climate with annual rainfall estimated to be 1000 mm. Additionally, there is little variation in season and temperature 53 .

( a ) Area within the enclosed circle indicates the mapped area of UCCDA including the contribution of the surrounding LGAs; ( b ) Map highlighting Uyo local government area 52 .

Waste characterization study design

Sampling design.

The study was carried out at the central landfill situated along the Uyo Village Road in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. This landfill, which is operated by the AKSEPWMA, serves as the destination for the disposal of all the waste generated within the Uyo metropolitan area. Therefore, it is a suitable and representative location for assessing the characteristics and management of municipal solid waste in the area.

The AKSEPWMA is the regulatory body responsible for the management of waste collection, transportation, and disposal in the city. The landfill receives waste from a variety of sources, including residential, commercial, and industrial sources. Waste is typically transported to the landfill via open trucks and compactors and is subsequently dumped in designated areas. Given its critical role in the waste management system of Uyo, the Uyo Village Road landfill was deemed appropriate for conducting this study. The selection of this landfill as the study site was based on its operational characteristics, which are representative of other landfills in Nigeria. By selecting this location, the authors were able to obtain a representative sample of municipal solid waste that accurately reflects the overall composition of waste generated in the area and is essential for developing effective waste management strategies.

Waste characterization

Waste in this study was sampled using the quartering technique. This is a sampling method often used to sample heterogeneous materials such as municipal solid waste, often used when the sample is too large to be analyzed in its entirety. The entire sample is divided into four equal parts, and two opposing quarters are discarded while the remaining two quarters are combined and mixed. This process is then repeated until the desired sample size is achieved, which is usually a smaller, more manageable portion.

In this study, the waste samples were collected from “undisturbed waste,” immediately after it was unloaded at the landfill, this was carried out using a payloader. The sample size was critical in ensuring the accuracy and reliability of research findings. To obtain this, the sampling formula for continuous variable measurements (Eq.  1 ) was utilized 64 , which was applied by Gomez et al. 65 and Miezah et al. 66 .

where n  = the sample size, Z  = value for a selected alpha level of each tail = 1.96; P  = estimated population standard deviation based on a pre-study, and D  = acceptable margin of error (0.05). From the calculation, the total waste analyzed was 9308.7 kg. The waste sample was manually divided by utilizing the coning and quartering method 67 , 68 , 69 . Here, the entire sample was mixed using a payloader and spread into a cone. The cone was then divided into four parts using a metal square pipe and spade. Two quarters, diagonally placed, were extracted and the remaining two quarters were mixed and quartered again. This procedure was repeated six times until the desired and manageable sample size of 120–150 kg was acquired. The characterization effort for this study was repeated over a period of seven days consecutively. As the desired sample size was obtained, the waste was moved from the main landfill to a nearby location for sorting and characterization.

Waste classification

For ease of recognition, the wastes in the landfill were classified by grouping similar wastes into the following groups:

Ferrous and non-ferrous metals

Population determination and forecasting

Data published by the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics 53 on Nigeria’s population by region with forecast values up to 2033 was utilized in this study. These values served as basis for further prediction, and they are close to the values presented by PopulationStat 54 .

Determination of overall waste collection

Data on the average types and numbers of trucks that deliver waste to the site together with the average number of trips for each truck daily were recorded. To determine the total waste collected at the site, the weighbridge method was employed following global standards found in literature 55 , 56 , 57 . However, in absence of a weighbridge, the following equation ( Eq.  2 ) was employed to determine the overall quantity of waste collected.

Furthermore, the amount of waste generated per day was calculated based on a rule of thumb 58 , where approximately 74% of waste generated in developing countries is efficiently collected for disposal. Hence, a modification to Eq.  2 as presented by Ibikunle 59 resulted in Eq.  3 .

MSW generation rate was estimated using Eq.  4 as presented by Atta et al. 60

Survey data collection

Google Forms was used to create online questionnaires that were accessible via a unique URL. Survey workers used either their mobile phones displaying the Google form, or paper survey forms with identical questions, to obtain survey responses from four different groups of Uyo residents: (a) people living in residential households more than a kilometer from the landfill, (b) residential households located within one kilometer of the municipal landfill, (c) market sellers at several markets with temporary stalls, and (d) employees at permanent businesses in buildings around town. There was a specific survey for each group, with some questions being identical. Grouping was done to assess whether different profiles of waste generation, and specific better options for waste management, exist in the context of this location. Data entered digitally by the surveyors into Google Forms was automatically recorded. Data recorded on the paper forms was entered manually into Google Forms according to each survey group, and automatically added to the other data from each respective group. As each questionnaire (digital or paper) was filled out face-to-face with the surveyor, there were no unanswered surveys. The time frame for each group was roughly one week in February 2023.

Results and discussions

Landfill operation and quantification of waste.

The landfill is in operation from 6 AM to 6 PM daily. On a typical business day, the disposal facility closes to waste delivery trucks at 5 PM and the next hour is used for site-tidying activities. Typically, waste collection in the city begins early in the morning, typically at 7 AM. These generated wastes are dumped in publicly provided receptacles as presented in Figs.  4 A–C. For collection, various types of vehicles such as compactors, tipper trucks, and utility vehicles are used (see Fig.  4 D), which represent the origin of the waste. Specifically, compactors collect waste from the roadside, which is mainly around residential areas, whereas tipper trucks collect waste from the market area, while utility vehicles, also referred to as “house-to-house” collect waste from individual homes. The latter takes place only in high-income residential areas within Uyo, where residents are subscribed to a waste collection service either at a bi-weekly or monthly rate. At about 8:30–9:00 AM, the trucks start arriving at the landfill. Through interaction with the workers in the landfill, an estimated average of 30–50 trucks are emptied at the landfill daily. Similarly, each truck is expected to make an average of 3–5 trips daily, and this results from the high amount of daily waste generated in the city. At regular intervals within the day, already deposited solid waste is compacted using a bulldozer and a compactor. As is a common phenomenon in many developing countries, informal waste picking is carried out by people who scavenge through the waste stream in search of potentially valuable recyclable materials, such as scrap metal and plastic bottles, for the purposes of subsequent resale. The activities of these informal waste pickers have been critical in powering the recycling industry. At the landfill in Uyo Village Road, about 40 informal waste pickers rely on the collection and recovery of recyclable waste materials to support their livelihoods.

( A – D ) Waste collection at various collection sites in Uyo.

The total MSW collected and generated were calculated using Eqs. ( 2 ) and ( 3 ). Similarly, it was observed that each truck delivery is usually almost filled, but only to the brim of the lower end of the truck, and with uncompacted waste. Hence, it was assumed that trucks normally operate at 50% theoretical loading capacity. The result is presented in Table 2 below. The annual quantity of MSW generated in UCCDA, obtained by dividing by 0.74 based on the hypothesis that only 74% of waste is actually collected, was determined to be 690,541 tons. This figure represents approximately half of the MSW generated from more populous (approximately double) Nigerian states like Lagos and Kano considering dry seasons only. Hence, this presents an validation, and confirmation, of the effect of population on the quantity of MSW generated in a metropolis. Furthermore, the average MSW generation rate per capita was computed using Eq.  3 ; the value obtained was approximately 1.34 kg/person/day, which is in contrast to an approximate value of 0.66 kg/capita/day for comparable cities presented in literature a decade and a half ago. A reasonable explanation for this could be, among other factors, the increasing population size or the fact that residents of urban areas, as opposed to rural areas, tend to generate more recyclable waste that would end up in a landfill, rather than biodegradable waste that can be disposed of in nature 9 , 11 , 61 .

The MSW composition result of the landfill site obtained via the quaternary method described in the methodology is summarized in Fig.  5 .

Waste composition in Uyo landfill serving UCCDA.

It is shown that the largest waste component of the landfill was mixed organic waste. This can partly be attributed to the agricultural and cultural pattern of the region, where agriculture is the dominant activity even among working-class households. On the other hand, the combined plastics and paper fractions made up approximately 38%. Partly, this can be attributed to the following: (1) increased packaging material consumption significantly influenced by increasing sales and trading activity dominant in the region, and (2) increasing population controlled by significant rural-to-urban migration rates experienced in recent times. Furthermore, from Fig.  5 , the total recyclable solid wastes (plastics + metal + paper wastes) fraction exceeds 45% of the total waste. This presents an opportunity for integrating thermochemical waste conversion methods. Existing established methods provide an avenue to increasing the energy generation capacity of the region, noting that there is still insufficient consistent power supply for the entire region.

Estimated waste generation forecast

By considering the waste generation rate for 2023, Fig.  6 presents the waste generation trend over the next ten years. The calculated yearly amount of waste generated in all of UCCDA was extrapolated based on the assumption of an annual population growth rate of 3.4%.

Yearly waste Generation Forecast in Uyo Capital City Development Area.

The forecast indicates that the amount of generated waste in ten years is bound to increase by approximately 40%, from 690,541 to 964,705 tons per year. Hence, adequate measures need to be put in place to ensure that these wastes are efficiently handled.

Waste disposal survey

Four groups of people in the city of Uyo were questioned about their waste-disposing habits, composition of their waste, and the issues they are encountering among other things. The respondents were from residential households in average residential areas, residential households next to the landfill, market sellers at several markets with temporary stalls, and lastly employees at permanent businesses in buildings around town. The number of respondents in each group were 3632, 1407, 2019 and 2261, respectively, resulting in over 9000 completed surveys.

Grouping the people polled allows for a more nuanced assessment of current issues and potential measures of addressing them. It was found that issues were shared between groups, but at different levels. Figure  7 shows selected results of this survey; firstly, from a multiple-choice question (“ What is the main problem you have disposing of your waste? ”), which posits that the main issues that respondents have with waste disposal in their respective situations (Fig.  7 A) are presented. More than two thirds of respondents (68.8%) currently have one or more significant issues with waste disposal which are grouped as attitudinal (or willingness); namely, their waste collection point is too far away (‘distance’), they have too much waste to completely dispose of in an orderly fashion (‘waste amount’), they do not know where the closest collection site is located (‘no collection site’), or the site is always too full (‘full receptacles’). The foregoing agrees with a similar observation by Afroz et al 45 where willingness to separate waste was traced to similar factors to those observed with our respondents. The distance from the disposal point is the biggest issue for average residents and businesses, with 37.0% and 29.3% citing this as their main issue; these same groups are most affected by the fact that there is too much waste for them to handle (23.2% and 22.8%, respectively). Roughly one fifth of all respondents encounter the problem of overflowing waste collection sites. The problem that seems to be the least prevalent is not knowing appropriate collection points to dispose of waste or the absence of a collection site, as less than 15% of respondents in each group named this factor. Still, this is a relevant factor that needs to be addressed. Market sellers reportedly had the least issues (41% responded not to have any problem), which ties in well with the fact that they dispose of their waste at the end of each day, and the collection site is always at the same market, if not very close to their stall. Residents at the landfill scored the second highest for this question, since they live very close to the waste disposal site.

Survey responses from four different waste-producing groups in the city of Uyo; ( A ) main issues with waste disposal for the four different groups, in which more than one response was possible; ( B ) willingness of respondents to separate their waste at their homes or business sites, and to pay a fee for a government waste collection service.

Obtaining answers from discrete groups has the potential to provide better insights into how well certain waste management strategies will work to address the issues presented. It was found, however, that large parts of all groups were ready to cooperate with such measures. Two subsequent questions in the survey ( “If the government gave you two different bins (one for food waste, and one for everything else), to sort your waste into, would you sort it?” and “Would you pay a small fee if someone came to your house to collect your waste?” ) assessed the willingness of respondents from all groups to separate their waste at the source, and the willingness to pay a small fee for a waste collection service (Fig.  7 B). The majority in each scenario were willing to cooperate (83.2% and 62.5%, respectively). This was in agreement with the result of a similar question posed by Patrick et al. 62 using the same study area. However, there is the caveat that the cost of collection may not be affordable at present, and in the future, due to the rising cost of living (which is a factor affecting waste generation) as observed in literature 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 .

The issues the respondents have with waste disposal, and their readiness to support potential future efforts to curb these issues, suggest that better waste management practices through collecting waste closer to its source, then sorting and valorizing it, would be successful, and present a meaningful improvement in the livelihood of the people.

Statistical significance and analysis of survey responses

To observe if there were variations in challenges faced by respondents on existing waste management, an ANOVA test was utilized. Here, we determined if there were variations between responses obtained from the various survey groups (residential, landfill, market-sellers, businesses). Table 3 summarizes the percentage of responses obtained for each underlying issue.

The analysis was premised on the following:

Both variables (dependent and independent) were independent of one another, hence, not skewed.

There is homogeneous variation of the means for each set of data for all groups.

The data were made up of independent observations.

The Null hypothesis (H OS ) formed is:

H OS : There is no variation among the respondent groups with respect to the waste management issues.

The alternative hypothesis (H OT ) is thus:

H OT : There is a variation among the respondent groups with respect to the waste management issues.

Additionally, the analyses were performed with the significance value, α, set at 5% (0.05), which signifies that the permissible upper limit of the risk associated with rejecting a true null hypothesis. The ANOVA revealed that there was no statistically significant difference in the responses. This is indicated by the small F-value and high P -value > 0.05) in Table 4 , which summarizes the ANOVA statistical values. Hence, we will fail to reject the Null hypothesis, proving that there was no statistical significance variation. This means that all the survey groups faced similar challenges with the existing waste management.

Proposed waste management options

As the current waste management system practiced in the region involves manual handling, inefficient collection and sorting, limited recycling, and landfilling as final disposal method, present-day developments in waste management strategies hold better opportunities for valorization of the waste generated in the region. With the forecast waste quantities projected to increase by approximately 40% (see Fig.  6 ), there is a need to propose a more efficient and proper management strategy. Figure  8 summarizes a more valuable technique with potential opportunities for revenue generation.

Schematic of the proposed improved waste management in Uyo.

Waste collection and sorting

One of the challenges typically faced by waste handling facilities is the problem of mixed or combined waste fractions. This becomes increasingly challenging when dealing with waste in bulk quantities such as in large landfills like the one operated by the region in view. Scaling down waste sorting and relegating the sorting process to the source is one way to ease the process. Hence, a subscription-based model should be adopted which strictly requires that households in the region sort their wastes into different collection bins. The sorted fractions can be according to their recyclability, that is, food waste, recyclable, non-recyclable and hard paper/carton. Such a model will be convenient and offer several advantages over the current general city-wide waste collection. Additionally, monetary fines by the collection service can be implemented to ensure compliance, which is an incentive for proper waste sorting.

Valorization

Waste valorization has become integral, with a focus on attaining global sustainability in 2030. For the region in view, the valorization methods employed are reusing and partly downcycling. Here, homes practice the reuse of glass or tin packages to store food or other items, especially in the rural areas. Also, local waste pickers scavenge through the waste stream at the landfills, in search of potentially valuable recyclable materials, such as scrap metal and plastic bottles, for the purposes of subsequent resale to mechanical recyclers. The downstream use of these resold materials usually involves reuse for the same purpose or downcycling for lower grade materials. This mostly involves non-transformation of the chemical state of the materials. However, these efforts by waste pickers are insufficient to effectively reduce the quantity of available waste in the landfills. Hence, other valorization methods are desirable, which are summarized in Fig.  9 .

Simplified summary of the waste valorization methods.

Waste-to-energy recovery

This involves thermochemical conversion of the waste materials into other chemical products. It can be employed to generate more valuable products, especially those with high energy content which could help to address the power shortage experienced in the region. As reviewed earlier, thermochemical valorization processes include pyrolysis, gasification, and others. The significant amount of plastics fraction in the waste characterization results ( see Fig.  5 ) presents enormous potential for setting up medium-scale thermochemical conversion plants. This could be based on the aforementioned processes, where the rejected fractions are utilized as feedstock to produce high-energy products like bio-oils, biofuels, syngas, and pyrolytic oil, thereby supplementing energy for the region. These technologies have been extensively reviewed in literature, and there exist several process technology licensors and plants in operation 13 , 63 .

Waste-agriculture integration

The organic waste fraction in the landfill is composed mainly of food wastes from the restaurants, markets and homes. These organic wastes undergo continuous decomposition, though at a slow rate, but the compost is not utilized in any form. Hence, one proposal would be to collaborate with the agricultural sector to develop proper composting dumps integrated with large scale commercial farming in the region. These commercial farms could generate income from sales or generate feedstock for small and medium enterprise-based manufacturing facilities.

Conclusion and recommendations

This article was focused on characteristics and management of municipal solid waste in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. The current waste management system in Uyo was assessed, a sampling design performed, an estimated waste generation forecast was calculated, and improved waste management options were identified based on the waste characterization and results from surveys. Hence, the following conclusions were drawn:

Plastic, paper, glass and metal wastes made up over half (> 51%) of the waste collected in Uyo municipality, meaning there is a large potential of valorizing the recyclable fraction of the waste.

The current waste management approach is inefficient in handling the quantity of waste generated in the municipality, most of which is disposed of in the landfill. This will be exacerbated in ten years, at which point potential waste generation is estimated to increase by 40%.

Currently, most of the potential of the waste is lost in the landfill. However, an enormous energy and revenue generation potential exists if the strategies outlined in the previous section are properly harnessed.

It is imperative to gradually reduce and eliminate the landfilling system. This can be achieved through synergy between private actors and the municipality. In addition, incentivization strategies need to be developed to encourage the citizens to participate in an integrated waste management scheme.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was not required for this study.

Consent to participate

Survey participants were informed on the purpose of the survey as follows, ‘This is an anonymous survey to help inform our state government on the needs of the citizens of Uyo with regards to their waste. The survey is being conducted privately. It contains less than ten questions about your experience managing your waste and you are free to participate as you choose.’ Verbal consent was then given by survey participants.

Data availability

The original data used in this work is available upon request. This can be requested from: Corresponding author: Uduak Bassey. Email: [email protected].

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Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. This research was supported and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the project “Waste to Energy: Hybrid Energy from Waste as a Sustainable Solution for Ghana” (03SF0591E). Additionally, the investigation received support from Orchid Springs Limited, Nigeria.

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U. B.: Conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft. M. J. and U. O.: Investigation and data curation. M. S.: Data curation, writing—review and editing. A. B.: Writing—review and editing. A. T. and U. L.: Methodology and analysis. S. N.: Supervision and funding acquisition. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.  We, the undersigned, give our consent for the publication of this manuscript, including photographs and figures, to be published in Environmental Science and Pollution Research.

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Bassey, U., Tom, Ao., Okono, U. et al. Characteristics and management of municipal solid waste in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. Sci Rep 14 , 10971 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61108-0

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-61108-0

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