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Waste can be converted to a high-value asset if treated properly with smart solutions. The purpose of this research is to identify critical barriers hindering smart waste management (SWM) implementation in developing economies using comparative analysis and a mixed-method approach. The objective of this work is to provide exhaustive insight including the smart cities projects to discuss the deferring parameters toward IoT-enabled waste management systems.

To accomplish the objective, the present study followed mixed-method approach consisting of two phases: In the first qualitative phase, barriers in the adoption of IoT (Internet of Things) for SWM were identified using extensive literature review and discussion with selected experts. In the second phase, the quantitative analysis using the Fuzzy DEMATEL (Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory) method was performed on the selected barriers. The fuzzy DEMATEL methodology helps in prioritizing the most significant causal barrier by separating them into the cause-effect group. The comparative analysis was used to understand two different perceptions. To provide more detailed insight on the problems faced while implementing SWM in developing economies.

The results disclose that “Lack of government strict regulatory policies,” “Lack of proper financial planning” and “Lack of benchmarking processes” are the most critical causal barriers toward IoT-enabled SWM implementation that are hindering the vision of efficient and effective waste management system. Also, “Difficulty in implementing innovative technologies” and “Absence of Dynamic Scheduling and Routing” fall under the potential causal category. The effect barriers include “Lack of awareness among the community,” “Lack of source segregation and recycling commitment” and “Lack of service provider” as concluded in results considering the comparative analysis. The results can aid the policy-makers and stakeholders to identify the significant barriers toward a sustainable circular economy and mitigate them when implementing IoT-enable waste practices. Also, it assists to proactively build programs, policies, campaigns and other measures to attain a zero-waste economy.

The research is focused on the context of India but it provides new details which can be helpful for other developing economies to relate. The research addresses the call for studies from public-sector and citizen’s perspectives to understand the acknowledgment of SWM systems and critical success factors using qualitative and exploratory method analysis.

The practical implications of the study include strict regulatory policies and guidelines for SWM acceptance, proper financial administration and benchmarking waste-recycling practices (prominent causal barriers). The practical implication of the results includes assistance in smart city projects in handling barriers proactively. The “Lack of Benchmarking processes” provides a critical application to standardized recycling practices in developing economies to improve the quality of the recyclable material/product. The comparative analysis also provides in-depth reflection toward the causal barriers from both the perspective which can help the government and stakeholders to work in a unified manner and establish an efficient waste management system. The results also conclude the need for targeted training programs and workshops for field implementation of innovative technologies to overcome the causal barrier. Moreover, policy-makers should focus to improve source segregation and recycling practices and ensure dedicated communication campaigns like Swachh Bharat Abhiyan to change the behavioral functioning of the community regarding waste. Lastly, developing economies struggle with the adequacy of resources to establish SWM systems, hence the authors conclude that proper financial planning is required at the ground level for smart city projects to overcome the spillover effects.

The social implications of the study include a reduction in pollution and efficient handling of waste resulting in a healthier and cleaner environment using IoT technology. Also, the results assist decision-makers in developing economies like India to establish smart city projects initiatives effectively to improve the quality of life. It proposes to establish standardized recycling processes for the better quality of recyclables and help in attaining a sustainable circular economy.

The research is novel as it provides comprehensive and comparative information regarding the barriers deferring SWM including the field barriers. To our consideration, the present study serves the first to address the comparative analysis of barriers in IoT-enabled waste systems and establish the relationship from both the perspective in middle-lower income economies. The study also suggests that the effect barriers can be overcome automatically by mitigating the causal barriers in the long run.

Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the world faces different issues, and proper healthcare waste (HCW) treatment is one of them. If appropriate disposal of HCW is not performed, it will have hazardous effects on humanity. This paper has identified the significant barriers hindering the proper treatment of healthcare waste management (HCWM) with the strategies to overcome these barriers.

This paper has identified the significant barriers hindering the proper treatment of HCWM with the strategies to overcome these barriers, and different barriers are identified and categorized into organizational, waste handling, human resource and technical barriers. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) process is used to rank the barriers and sub-barriers. Then, the Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method evaluates the strategies for proper implementation of HCWM.

The results show that organizational barriers are the most significant barrier, with a lack of coordination of hospitals with other authorities and no priority given to waste management issues as highly ranked barriers. The results of the Fuzzy TOPSIS method indicate that “Increase govt support and policies” and “Enhance training and awareness of employees” are the most feasible strategies to overcome these barriers for the successful implementation of HCWM.

This study will be helpful in policy formulations for the proper treatment of HCW in an efficient manner. This paper helps to complete the research gap by providing the different characteristics of barriers.

This paper fills the research gap by expanding the limited knowledge in this field and providing further evidence on this phenomenon. The study also enables the distinctive characteristics of barriers to be understood within a particular context.

India generates around two million tonnes of e-waste every year, and it is increasing at a very high rate of 30%. However, due to inefficient handling of infrastructure and limited number of collection centres along with the absence of proper incentive structure for producer and recyclers, 95% of e-waste reaches to unorganized sector for disposal. Consumers are not aware of the need of proper e-waste disposal and in absence of proper motivation and they are not inclined towards recycling process. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the best practices of e-waste take adopted all over the world to implement effective policy interventions for e-waste management in India and other emerging economies.

This paper has recommended preventive as well as curative policy interventions on the basis of best e-waste management practices of Germany, Italy and Japan; life cycle assessment of e-waste; and SWOT analysis of Indian electronic product industry.

Preventive measures include a deposit refund scheme wherein a consumer will be responsible for depositing a refundable fees during the purchase of the product. The amount should be arrived at keeping in mind cost involved in handling e-waste and ensure some motivation for the consumers to give back used product. To ensure proper tracking of the product, Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags can be used which will be activated at the time of sale of product and remain so until product reaches some designated recycling space or recycler and consumer is returned back his deposit fee. Subsidy to the producers and recyclers can also be provided by the government to further incentivize the whole process. An example of mobile phones has been used to understand the proposed deposit fees and associated cost structure. Curative measures to reduce the generation of e-waste in long run for managing the discussed issue have also been proposed.

This study is an initiative for proposing and implementing best e-waste take back techniques in a developing economy like India by acquiring learnings from best/advanced economies in terms of e-waste take back.

This paper aims to assess the current waste management situation in Estonian municipalities and outlines the main constraints hindering the implementation of the Pay‐As‐You‐Throw (PAYT) system into the existing waste management model.

Data pertaining to the treatment methods of municipal solid waste (MSW) and the ability to implement the PAYT system were gathered from 150 of the 226 local municipalities, whilst statistical data related to the amounts of MSW generated and separately collected at a municipal level were obtained from the Estonian Environmental Information Centre.

The results of the study showed that 39 per cent of the municipalities sort waste before landfilling. To increase the sorting ability of inhabitants, 43 per cent of those municipalities that responded to the questionnaire suggested enhancing awareness among people in regard to waste handling. It was found that people are not economically motivated to sort their waste due to the fact that differences in charges between separately collected and unsorted waste are negligible. It was estimated that implementing the PAYT system in one rural municipality would increase the cost of emptying containers by approximately 20‐45 per cent.

Results of the study can be used in countries with a comparable economic situation to improve their current economic and legislative context in the field of sustainable waste management.

The novelty is that the authors aimed to assess the possibility of implementation of the Pay‐As‐You‐Throw system in practice, using Estonian municipalities as a case area, including economic feasibility and willingness of stakeholders to apply the system.

The need for innovations to achieve economically viable and green supply chains has been illuminated in recent literature. Closed‐loop supply chains are part of green supply chain management and include traditional forward supply‐chain activities as well as additional activities of the reverse supply chain. Extant supply chain literature calls for a chain perspective in order to avoid sub‐optimization in the chain since changes at one stage can affect the performance at other stages. The purpose of the paper is to analyze how implementation of green supply chain innovations can enhance value offerings along the supply chain.

This research is based on an explorative, single‐embedded case study of a food supply chain. The case is concerned with implementation of green supply chain innovation in terms of biogas technology. The single case comprises four actors in the food supply chain: a retailer, an industrial bakery, a mill, and a farmer. Data collection is based on semi‐structured interviews with persons responsible for sustainability in the respective companies.

The case demonstrates that in order to reach the full potential of a green supply chain innovation, the different supply chain actors must be included. What in isolation of one company's perspective is perceived as a waste can be transformed to a value when the problem area is analysed from a chain perspective.

The paper is based on a single case study that does not provide static generalizations, and it represents the first step on a road to building new theory about green supply chain innovations. Future research can expand the findings by elaborating upon cases of other types of supply chains and supply chain innovations.

The perception of waste in a supply chain can be changed through green supply chain innovations. This case illustrates how obsolete food products at the retail level, which traditionally have been perceived as a waste product with related discarding costs, can be regarded as a valued input by implementation of biogas technology at the industrial bakery company. As a result, other food supply chains can investigate similar solutions.

The paper provides a case that visualizes how value offerings along a food supply chain can be chased through green supply chain innovations. Furthermore, the paper applies a supply chain perspective not only conceptually but also empirically. By focusing on the interfaces between each main actor in the supply chain, this paper contributes to existing research with valuable knowledge of inter‐organizational issues related to challenges of supply chain innovation.

The paper aims to examine the healthcare waste management practices of selected hospitals in Ghana.

The study adopted a multiple case approach, using two public and two private hospitals.

Findings indicate that both public hospitals and one private hospital have a waste management policy. Public and private hospitals have waste management plans and waste management teams. Public hospitals were found to generate more waste than the private hospitals. One private hospital and the public hospitals segregate their waste into different categories. This is done by first identifying the waste type and then separating non-infectious or general waste from infectious waste. Both public and private hospitals have internal storage facilities for temporarily storing the waste before they are finally disposed off-site. On-site transportation in the public hospitals is done by using wheelbarrows, while covered bins with wheels are used to transport waste on-site in the private hospitals. In public and private hospitals, off-site transportation of the hospital waste is undertaken by Municipal Assemblies with the use of trucks. Both public and private hospitals employ standard methods for disposing of healthcare waste.

The article provides insights into healthcare waste management from a Ghanaian perspective.

Despite legislation in place, there is still a gap in knowledge and awareness of the communities on the issues of e-waste handling and management. It is important to understand the knowledge and awareness levels of the consumers of electronic products who ultimately become the generators of e-waste in a community. The current study is based on a survey conducted in an urban setting to understand people's perception about the genesis of issues related to e-waste and its management. The purpose of this paper is to study the findings that could help in designing customized awareness programmes for addressing this concern more effectively.

A survey was conducted in Delhi to understand public knowledge and awareness related to e-waste management in the city and country. A limited random survey was conducted with a sample size of 400 individuals in Delhi from middle class belonging to different educational backgrounds and professions. Personal interview method was used to collect in-depth information related to the issues of e-waste and its management. A questionnaire was developed and pilot tested before actual start of the survey. The questionnaire consisted of two sections – first about baseline information related to their age, family size, family income and educational background and second on their knowledge and awareness regarding e-waste and its management. Also, the practices they followed regarding e-waste at their household level were enquired. The questionnaire consisted of both open-ended and close-ended questions. Most of the questions had multiple-choice options, which made it easy for the respondents to answer them appropriately. The open-ended question gave the respondents ample time and space to express their views. The open-ended questions besides strengthening the close-ended questions provided a lot of qualitative information and made the study interesting. Apart from just interviewing, informal interactions were also used as a tool for data collection. During the course of the study, informal interactions were done with respondents to familiarize them with the objectives of the present study, their role and benefits to them from the study.

The present study aimed to gauge the awareness levels and practices of people regarding e-waste management. The survey conducted in Delhi revealed that significant fraction of middle-class population is still unaware of the issue; however, on getting the information they were able to link the impacts of improper management of e-waste with detrimental health outcomes. For those who knew about it, the main sources of information to them were found to be internet, and print media. However, despite some awareness about the issue, most respondents were totally unaware about correct ways of its recycling and management. An important finding of the study was that 12-26 per cent people replace their major electronic goods like refrigerators, food processors, personal computers and music systems within the first three years of purchase. Discarding products within their periods of useful lives leads to enhanced generation of e-wastes. Along with e-waste generation, this also puts additional stress over the resources used for manufacturing of these products. On management of e-waste, most of the respondents opined of need of having efficient recycling units and effective mass awareness programmes. The survey also revealed the willingness of users to pay extra cost for proper management of e-waste provided that there is proper cost sharing between consumers and producers. This also raises an important aspect of extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR puts additional responsibility and onus on the manufacturer of the product to not only produce durable quality of products but also take back the obsolete products and manage the e-waste. This also means that the manufacturers will have to use recyclable material in manufacturing of new products for economic management of e-waste at the later stage. Although, in Indian context it would be a challenge to implement the concept of EPR, especially with the active informal sector. The respondents quite adequately put equal responsibilities on the government, consumers and producers for effective e-waste management. The study clearly highlights the issues perceived by the middle-class population of Delhi and can be replicated in other major cities for re-authentication of the facts. The study could prove to be important in designing awareness programme related to the issue.

This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey-based study that was employed to understand the perception of a sample of respondents. Analysis of the data reveals that the knowledge on the issue of e-waste is minimal and requires massive awareness drives for senitization.

Management of hazardous waste is a big challenge to a common biomedical waste treatment facility (CBWTF) because of variations in the amount of different kinds of waste collected and treated from various health-care facilities (HCFs). Hence, prediction of health-care waste (HCW) will be very helpful for the CBWTF in allocation of resources, transportation, storage and disposal of medical waste (MW). This study aims to focus on the current MW handling and disposal practices at CBWTF in Uttarakhand, India. The study also models the seasonal variation in the HCW quantities collected and treated in CBWTF at Uttarakhand (India).

Data were collected for two years (2013 and 2014) from CBWTF, and polynomial regression models were used to represent the complex nonlinear relationship among the variables.

The fixed trends in the waste generated in two years represent the seasonal variations and illness patterns. The load of approximately 527 kg/day biomedical waste, including all the three categories (red, yellow and blue), was estimated at CBWTF at Uttarakhand, India. The composition of the total waste was calculated as: yellow category (327 kg/day, 62.23 per cent), red category (190 kg/day, 36.66 per cent) and blue category (10 kg/day, 1.44 per cent). CBWTF needs to run an incinerator for 3.30 h, autoclaving machine for 4 h and shredder for 20 min daily as per the calculated load.

This study is focused on only one CBWTF in Uttarakhand, so the model needs to be validated considering other facilities.

The model will help the CBWTF to plan its capacity and allocate resources.

Infectious waste coming out from HCFs can be managed in a proper way.

This study is the first of its kind conducted for CBWTF, Uttarakhand, India.

Nowadays healthcare waste (HCW) has become a big challenge for the hospital management, especially, in developing countries like India. Like other developing countries, Indian healthcare waste disposal (HCWD) industry is also fragmented, as some hospitals are having their own in-house waste treatment facilities and others are outsourcing the process to government authorized Common Biomedical Waste Treatment Facilities. Literature also lacks the quantitative studies in selecting the HCWD strategy and, hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize the factors, which affect the selection of HCWD strategy and to propose the model to select the HCWD strategy and to apply the proposed model to select the HCWD strategy in Uttarakhand, Northern State of India.

Grey theory-based analytic hierarchy process approach has been applied to evaluate the HCWD options and select the appropriate strategy for the healthcare facilities (HCFs).

From the literature, six criteria have been used to evaluate the HCWD strategies: “access to expertise,” “overdependence,” “transportation & risk associated,” “Government rules,” “environmental factors,” and “economic factors.” “Outsourcing” strategic option (0.61) got the higher desirability index than “in-house treatment” (0.39).

The proposed methodology can be used by the researchers and experts in the field to evaluate the strategic options and select the appropriate strategy.

The HCFs and other generators of HCW can select the alternative, whether they should treat the infectious waste in-house or they should go for outsourcing.

In the field of HCW management, this is the first study of its kind, which helps to evaluate and select the HCWD strategies. The proposed model has been applied in Uttarakhand, Northern State of India to make the comparison between “in-house” and “outsource” strategies.

The purpose of this study is to solve the problem of healthcare waste management in developing countries. The buildup of medical waste has attracted the attention of all spheres of society due to the expanding population and developing economy. Timely collection and processing of medical waste are extremely important due to its potential hazards. Although the problem of planning medical waste management has been addressed in developed countries, it persists in several developing countries. This research is motivated by an example of a city in India characterized by a dense population, abundant health-care facilities and a lack of planning for managing large medical waste generated daily.

The authors address the problem of designing the network of collection and processing facilities for medical waste and optimizing the vehicle route that collects and transfers the waste between facilities. Due to distinct topographic restrictions in the considered city, the collection and transfer process needs to be conducted in two echelons – from hospitals to collection centers using smaller vehicles and then to the processing facilities using trucks. This work addresses these two problems as a two-echelon location-routing problem.

A mixed-integer programming model is developed to minimize the cost of opening the facilities and transporting medical waste. Several managerial insights are drawn up to assist planners and decision-makers.

This study follows a case study approach to provide a descriptive and prescriptive approach to hospital waste management in the ancient city of Varanasi. The city has witnessed unplanned growth over the years and is densely populated. The health-care facilities in the city have a large catchment area and attract patients from neighboring districts. The situation analysis based on secondary data and unstructured interviews of the stakeholders suggests that the ad hoc approach prevails in present hospital waste management in the city.