Waste Management and Recycling

Waste management and recycling research examines how materials discarded by households, communities, and industries can be reduced, redirected, or recovered before they reach landfills or escape into ecosystems. The stakes are significant: poorly managed waste contributes to soil and water contamination, greenhouse gas emissions, and public health burdens that fall unevenly on lower-income communities. Researchers are actively working to understand what makes community participation in recycling programs durable over time, how local social structures and cultural practices shape waste behavior, and whether circular approaches to plastic and organic waste can scale without displacing the environmental costs elsewhere. Open questions include how to measure the genuine sustainability of recycling systems end-to-end and how social empowerment initiatives can turn waste reduction from a top-down mandate into a community-driven practice.

Works

37,474

Total citations

52,809

Keywords

Waste ManagementCommunity ParticipationPlastic WasteEnvironmental ImpactRecyclingHousehold Waste