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To examine and create an ideal pathway model that can implement aiming to change the current improper practices in managing municipal solid waste (MSW) to sustainable practices. To acquire a better understanding of public participation and community culture helps in achieving the aim of reducing the amount of waste generation, sending less waste to landfill sites and encouraging the reuse and recycling of materials instead. To help students whom the awareness in the community regarding the importance of protecting the environment and acting in a civilization way has increased. To improve the MSW sustainability practices and enhance the waste sustainability practices together with energy and material conservation. To have more extensive knowledge and awareness of issues in waste management and some of the dilemmas managers of strategic and operations face.

Abu Dhabi’s center of waste management is known as Tadweer is a governmental entity under the Abu Dhabi Executive Council. Tadweer is responsible for managing every MSWs includes collecting, transferring, segregating, treating, recycling, reusing and tracking all kinds of wastes. CEO of Tadweer Dr Salem Alkabi called his team that manages various departments such as strategy, operations, projects and licensing. The meeting was to discuss Tadweer’s future directing and strategy for mismanagement of solid waste dumping into landfills in Abu Dhabi. Dumping in landfills is the main challenge Tadweer faced. Mr. Abdulrahman Albloushi’s strategy and business development executive director of Tadweer highlighted to Alkaabi how Tadweer could improve the waste management practices to make it more sustainable. Furthermore, assisting the center gets more benefit from the waste s instead of losing this valuable waste into landfills. Consequently, Mr. Abdulrahman must grapple with some difficult questions: how much the effectiveness in collecting waste from where it generated and removing it out-of-sight?

This case study is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and executive MBA students of business management programs, especially for waste management, environmental management and strategic management courses.

Teaching Notes are available upon request.

CSS 4: Environmental management.

Waste diversion rate (WDR) is a key indicator of effective waste management and circular economy. However, it has not yet been widely used in the construction and demolition waste (C&DW) sector. This study aims to promote the application of WDR as an effective measure for waste management through the investigation of the current status of C&DW diversion in the Australian construction industry.

A mixed-method approach, which combines a desk study and a case study of 12 residential projects was used in this study. Data retrieved from the National Waste Database (NWD) were used for the descriptive analysis.

The analysis of the national waste data revealed that the national average WDR in Australia is 64%. WDR varies based on material types and across the states. The analysis facilitated the forecasting of the possible future trend of waste diversion in Australia. The studied projects from two states in Australia presented slightly different results. Most of the waste stream, except mixed waste, presented above 95% of WDR in each project.

Although the studied projects showed a higher recycling rate, this study claims that achieving a higher rate of recovery by diverting the waste could not be assured unless accurate estimation is carried out with reliable and verifiable data. Lack of reliable data is considered as the limitation of this study. While the scope of descriptive analysis of waste generation and diversion covers the whole country, the case study analysis is limited to the states of New South Wales and Victoria.

The study highlights the significance of WDR in assessing the performance of effective waste management in the C&DW sector. WDR is a comprehensive measure that takes the output of the waste life cycle into account for benchmarking waste management. The results provide a critique of the current practices of waste management and the essence of the consistent, transparent and verifiable waste data to enable accurate WDR estimation in Australia. The outcome is useful for waste managers and policymakers in developing potential waste management strategies and C&DW specific legislation for building a more ecologically sustainable industry.

The purpose of this paper is to interrogate the fate of landfills as waste disposal option in Accra. This becomes imperative since for a long time, efficient disposal of waste remains a neglected issue and potential source environmental hazard.

The study adopted content analysis of literature, in-depth interview schedules with key stakeholders and direct field observations.

Landfills in Accra are in a state of ambivalence due to mismanagement. Improper designing and siting of dumpsites, often in close proximity to water sources and human settlements have created aesthetic and odour nuisances and increase health risks, attracting the wrath, disaffection and distrust of residents.

The study provides an insight into broader issues of landfills and demonstrates Accra's vulnerability to health hazard due to improper waste disposal, which becomes apparent with the least downpour and the subsequent flooding which exposes most drains as de facto receptacles for waste.

From all indications, Accra appears to be on the brink of a landfill void. Though this issue has been an open secret since 2000, it remains unattended to till date and calls for an immediate, well-planned and concerted attention.

This paper adopts qualitative research techniques to delve into a subject matter whose implication has citywide consequences. The method allows for in-depth assessment of the intent and commitment of all key stakeholders, which brings to the fore that landfills will no longer be the cheapest or simplest waste disposal option.

This chapter argues that organizations are not sustainable if they operate in unsustainable societal and ecological contexts, and that operating in a way that contributes to the health of the larger system requires organizations to develop new capabilities. It demonstrates the role that rich internal and external networks play in developing sustainability capability particularly in providing pathways to generate, import, apply, and disseminate knowledge about how to operate more sustainably.

The case study of the sustainability transition of Cleveland Clinic is based on four years of interviews and archival data collection examining the system’s transformational change that began in 2007. The case focuses on the building of sustainability capability, including an internal infrastructure to focus the organization on this outcome, and building of rich networks for learning and action. The case is framed with capability and network theory.

Guided and catalyzed by a small central group called the Office for a Healthy Environment, Cleveland Clinic has achieved measurable progress in key strategic focuses including waste diversion, energy efficiency, and increasing integration of local foods into its supply chain. To do so, it has developed strong internal networks to disseminate knowledge and accelerate innovation and adoption of sustainable practices. Strong, dynamic external networks have enabled Cleveland Clinic to import knowledge about sustainable practice from its environment, and have enabled it to help build the sustainability capability of its vendors, the community upon which it depends, and the health-care industry.

Starting with the perspective that the sustainability of an organization depends on the sustainability of the ecosystems in which it exists, this chapter focuses not on the design of specific sustainability initiatives, but on the dynamic networks that underpin the capability to simultaneously improve the health of the organization and of the larger ecosystem. This perspective provides insight into new organizing principles.

This chapter explores the state's response to the waste crisis (see also McDonagh, Varley, & Shortall, 2009). The conceptual basis for key turning points in the state's waste management policy is located within the parameters of an EM approach. An outline of eco-modern and sustainable thinking is provided in the chapter, as the state's policy shift on waste, from a reliance on landfill to a strategy informed by the EU's waste hierarchy would provide many of the political opportunities for GSE, and their political allies, to exploit.

The short life cycle replacement of fitout in modern high-rise office buildings represents an under-researched waste problem. This paper aims to quantify the amount of demolition waste from office strip-out including attention to waste streams going to landfill, reuse and recycling.

Quantitative waste data (by weight) were measured from 23 office fitout projects situated in “A” grade office building stock from the Sydney CBD. Waste streams were measured separately for landfill, reuse and recycled materials. Descriptive and clustering statistics are presented and analysed.

From a total of 9,167 tonnes office fitouts demolished, 5,042 tonnes are going to landfill. The main contributor to landfill stream is the mixed waste generated in a fast-track demolition process. This approach partly resulted from the office interiors lacking regularity and easy disassembly. Moreover, considerable variability is observed in the waste per area, the waste streams and the waste compositions. Also, it is noteworthy that the recycled waste stream considerably increases when there exist economically viable conversion facilities, as for metals, hard fills and plasterboards.

The research is focused upon work practices that take place in Australia; therefore, generalisability is limited to situations that have similar characteristics. Future studies are needed to verify and extend the findings of this research.

A key area arising from the research findings is the need to design fitout with recycling and reuse in mind to divert more from landfill. This must explore and incorporate onsite demolition processes to ensure the design is well suited to commercially dominant processes in the overall demolition process, as well as attention to developing economies of scale and viability in re-sale markets for reused items.

Little empirical or quantitative research exists in the area of office fitout waste. This research provides entry to this area via quantifiable data that enables comparison, benchmarking and diagnostic ability that can be used to underpin strategic solutions and measurement of improvements.

This paper aims to propose a quadruple bottom line approach for higher education leaders who must decide whether to accept sustainability initiatives that do have not have a business case. The authors describe a personal waste management program at a major university to illustrate how a quadruple bottom line framework may impact decisions to adopt a sustainability practice in higher education. The authors also demonstrate how opportunity costs can be applied to better understand the true costs of such waste management programs.

This exploratory research uses a case study approach with a unique accounting method to determine the costs of a personal waste management system. System costs are calculated for the entire university and for sample units within the university.

University leaders chose to continue the new waste management program in light of evidence showing higher than anticipated costs. The authors illustrate how this decision was driven by consideration of a fourth bottom line, that of the educational value of the sustainability initiative. It is discussed whether proposed sustainability initiatives such as these should be evaluated using a traditional triple bottom line framework, or, in the case of higher education, if equal consideration should also be given to factors related to the educational mission of the institution.

The authors develop a quadruple bottom line framework to explain the frequent implementation of economically costly sustainability programs in higher education contexts. This paper also reviews the rise of “personal waste management” programs at higher education institutions, demonstrates how the value of employee time can and should be considered as a cost of a comprehensive campus sustainability program (i.e. recycling and composting) and illustrates a novel means for using opportunity costs to determine those costs.

The purpose of this paper is to review and update Devens eco-industrial park sustainability indicators and benchmark progress made since 2000 in the seven key areas of its sustainability vision.

The authors examined publicly available data for Devens, Massachusetts, and obtained additional data from Devens Enterprise Commission and a survey of 29 local organizations.

Of the 43 indicators adopted by Devens eco-industrial park in 2012, 29 demonstrate progress, seven show lack of progress, six point to a potential progress, and for one no information was available in 2000 to evaluate progress. Most progress has been made in the areas of transportation, business and economic sustainability, governance and natural resources.

For some proposed indicators no data were available to evaluate progress (e.g. waste generation, recycling, compositing, and landfill diversion) yet these are among the key measures for an eco-industrial park.

Proposed framework, indicators and lessons learned are of value for researchers and practitioners at other eco-industrial parks (EIPs) interested in benchmarking progress toward sustainable local development.

The case provides insights on integrating sustainability in local economic development.

The study is paving the way toward development of a standardized set of sustainability indicators for EIPs in the USA.

By extending their campaign beyond its NIMBY and health risk frames, GSE were able to open up a third frame, which was established from the political opportunity of democratic deficit surrounding the state's response to their campaign. This democratic deficit frame had its inception in the state's initial omission of the health risks of incineration in the CWP. By exploiting this opportunity, GSE were able to establish their own credentials through their provision of interest-led science about the health risks. Another area of democratic deficit exploited by GSE was seen in the state's attempt to rush the CWP through without undergoing the proper public consultation process that was written in to regional waste plans. Furthermore, the state's removal of the councillor's powers to decide the waste issue contributed significantly to a local sense of democratic deficit.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the proposition that there is a symbiosis effect for exchanges between household waste recycling systems (HWRSs) and household recycling behaviour (HRB) within the reverse logistics (RL) discourse.

The paper contains empirical findings from a two phase, multi-method approach comprising consecutive inductive and deductive investigations. The qualitative and quantitative data underpin exploratory and explanatory findings which broaden and deepen the understanding of this phenomenon.

Analysis identified significant interactions between situational and personal factors, specifically demographic factors, affecting HRB with key factors identified as engagement, convenience, availability and accessibility.

Findings confirm the existence of a symbiosis effect between situational and personal factors and inform current research trends in the environmental sciences, behavioural and logistics literature, particularly identifying consumers as being an important pivot point between forward and RL flows.

Findings should inform RL-HWRSs design by municipalities looking to more effectively manage MSW and enhance recycling and sustainability. RL practitioners should introduce systems to support recovery of MSW in sympathy with communication and education initiatives to affect HRB and should also appreciate a symbiosis effect in the design of HWRSs.

The social implications of improved recycling performances in municipalities are profound. Even incremental improvements in the performance of HWRSs can lead to enhanced sustainability through higher recycling rates, reduced diversion of MSW to landfill, decreases in pollution levels, reduced carbon footprints and reduction in depletion of scarce natural resources.

The paper marks an early contribution to the study of symbiosis in HWRSs and HRB pertaining to RL. Findings are offered that identify the key situational and personal factors that interact to affect enhanced HWRSs and also offer insights above those available in current multi-disciplinary literature that has largely examined such factors in isolation. Conclusions offer the possibility of an epistemological bridge between the social and natural sciences.