House of sustainable waste management: an implementation framework

摘要

Manufacturing industries consume large amounts of natural resources as inputs to production in order to generate much lower amounts of useful products, leaving a major part of the inputs as by-products which are wastes. Waste disposal, in the present form, has significant adverse impacts on the environment as it can result in pollution of many forms. The present research critically examines the various revolutionary concepts of 'cradle to cradle (C2C)', 'design for green (DfG)', 'triple top line' and 'waste is food' as applied to industrial waste management. The exploratory study examines the prevailing practices and suggests approaches for sustainable industrial waste management. The paper proposes the 'house of sustainable waste management' which is a reference framework for industrial waste management which comprises three parts, 'the hierarchy', 'the pillars' and 'the foundations'. The proposed framework is conceptual in nature and provides a direction for implementation of sustainable industrial waste management.