Succeeding in involving decision-makers in solid waste management planning by setting appropriate goals and providing a structured planning method

Abstract

Even though the relevance of solid waste management goals for our societies becomes more and more acknowledged around the globe, one of the major challenges is to get the level of attention needed from those who are responsible for making the decisions. Waste management is one issue among others of the issues policy-makers do have to take care of, but many times other issues seem to have a higher priority. This prioritization often is also based on the aim of achieving short term effects and does not take into account infrastructural synergies that may be realized when tackling waste management issues as well as middle and long-term effects of addressing or neglecting waste management challenges, even though when basic waste management needs are addressed there are interfaces between the waste sector and the producing sectors that need to be handled in a reasonable way in order to allow for securing that pollutants and harmful substances are being concentrated in the waste management sphere and a portion of secondary materials as high as possible is being recycled. This paper shows examples of the challenges addressed and proposes how these could be handled in the future for the sake of the implementation of a circular economy.