Rapid population growth and urbanisation have generated large amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in many cities. Up to 40-60% of Malaysia's MSW is reported to be food waste where such waste is highly putrescible and can cause bad odour and public health issue if its disposal is delayed. In this study, the implementation of community composting in a village within Iskandar Malaysia is presented as a case study to showcase effective MSW management and mitigation of GHG emission. The selected village, Felda Taib Andak (FTA), is located within a palm oil plantation and a crude palm oil processing mill. This project showcases a community-composting prototype to compost food and oil palm wastes into high quality compost. The objective of this article is to highlight the economic and environment impacts of a community-based composting project to the key stakeholders in the community, including residents, oil palm plantation owners and palm oil mill operators by comparing three different scenarios, through a life cycle approach, in terms of the greenhouse gas emission and cost benefit analysis. First scenario is the baseline case, where all the domestic waste is sent to landfill site. In the second scenario, a small-scale centralised composting project was implemented. In the third scenario, the data obtained from Scenario 2 was used to do a projection on the GHG emission and costing analysis for a pilot-scale centralised composting plant. The study showed a reduction potential of 71.64% on GHG emission through the diversion of food waste from landfill, compost utilisation and significant revenue from the compost sale in Scenario 3. This thus provided better insight into the feasibility and desirability in implementing a pilot-scale centralised composting plant for a sub-urban community in Malaysia to achieve a low carbon and self-sustainable society, in terms of environment and economic aspects.
This study analyzes the regional implications of China's 2017 import ban on plastic waste by examining U.S. census data. A statistically significant decrease in total U.S. plastic waste exports was found, dropping from about 1.4 million tons to 0.6 million tons in the post-ban period. California remained the top exporter, throughout both pre- and post-ban periods, while South Carolina exhibited the highest per capita exports. Malaysia emerged as the largest importer of U.S. plastic waste, followed by Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand. The ban also led to a change in the composition of the exported plastic waste. Ethylene polymers increased from 32.6% of total exports in the pre-ban period to 46.9% in the post-ban period. Other plastics (vinyl chloride polymers, styrene polymers, and for plastics not elsewhere specified or included) decreased from 67.4% of total exports in the pre-ban period to 53.1% in the post-ban period. Moreover, we found that exporting plastic waste has significant environmental and human health impacts. For example, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) decreased from 20 million tons CO2-eq in the scenario where 100% of plastics are exported, or 25 million tons exported from the U.S. since 2002, to -11.1 million tons CO2-eq in the scenario where 100% of plastics are treated domestically. Transportation exacerbates these impacts for exported waste scenarios, increasing to 5.4 million tons CO2-eq when plastics are exported by ship while decreasing to 0.9 million tons CO2-eq for domestic treatment. Although exporting plastic waste is initially cost-effective, our study highlights that investing in domestic waste management can yield significant long-term benefits, considering the environmental and public health impacts. Therefore, it is crucial to prioritize context-specific solutions to address the challenges of the evolving global plastic waste landscape.
Biohydrogen production from dark fermentation of lignocellulosic materials represents a huge potential in terms of renewable energy exploitation. However, the low hydrogen yield is currently hindering its development on industrial scale. This study reviewed various technologies that have been investigated for enhancing dark fermentative biohydrogen production. The pre-treatment technologies can be classified based on their applications as inoculum or substrates pre-treatment or they can be categorised into physical, chemical, physicochemical and biological based on the techniques used. From the different technologies reviewed, heat and acid pre-treatments are the most commonly studied technologies for both substrates and inoculum pre-treatment. Nevertheless, these two technologies need not necessarily be the most suitable since across different studies, a wide array of other emerging techniques as well as combined technologies have yielded positive findings. To date, there exists no perfect technology for either inoculum or substrate pre-treatment. Although the aim of inoculum pre-treatment is to suppress H2-consumers and enrich H2-producers, many sporulating H2-consumers survive the pre-treatment while some non-spore H2-producers are inhibited. Besides, several inoculum pre-treatment techniques are not effective in the long run and repeated pre-treatment may be required for continuous suppression of H2-consumers and sustained biohydrogen production. Furthermore, many technologies employed for substrates pre-treatment may yield inhibitory compounds that can eventually decrease biohydrogen production. Consequently, much research needs to be done to find out the best technology for both substrates and inoculum pre-treatment while also taking into consideration the energetic, economic and technical feasibility of implementing such a process on an industrial scale.
This present research aims to synthesize and investigate the adsorption potential of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) impregnated with iron oxide (Fe3O4) for dye removal. The surface morphology and functional groups of the newly developed adsorbent (ISCB) were studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) analysis. The effects of the operating parameters, including initial dye concentration, adsorbent dosage, contact time and initial pH of the dye solution on the adsorption efficiency were investigated to identify an optimal condition. The characterization of SEM-EDX and FTIR analyses shows that ISCB has a porous structure and carbon-containing functional groups. The adsorption result revealed that ISCB removed 93.7% of dye, 88.8% of color and had a dye adsorption capacity of 7.2 mg/g within 6 h of contact time using 0.7 g/L of ISCB at pH 8.4. The result obtained fitted well for Langmuir isotherms, and adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In conclusion, this study proved that ISCB has the potential to be used as an effective and low-cost adsorbent to remove dyes from wastewater.
Seaweeds form the second largest global aquaculture product in volume, and despite rapid growth of the sector over the last 25 years, production and quality in top producing regions is becoming increasingly limited due to disease and pest outbreaks, the spread of non-native cultivars and the degradation of genetic health due to inbreeding. Most notably, the lack of biosecurity measures leading to disease and pest outbreaks are reported to cause the most significant production losses in the seaweed industry. This study uses the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) survey tool to quantify and compare biosecurity cross-culturally, in two major red seaweed producing countries, the Philippines and Tanzania. Both countries have significantly different political contexts and the seaweed sector sits within two very different value chains. Seaweed-based commodities from these countries, however, enters the same international market for carrageenan, a thickening agent used for a variety of products globally. This study uses the KAP survey tool to assess currently-adopted biosecurity control measures and understand how potential policy strategies could be developed on an international scale. Farmers from both producing countries have good biosecurity knowledge. In Tanzania 64% farmers scored Fair or Good, and in the Philippines this was 95%. Corresponding scores in practices were lower, 85% Poor for Tanzania, and 88% Fair for the Philippines, indicating there is a lack of resources for farmers to implement additional practices. The information gathered using the KAP tool in the context of the global seaweed industry can be used to facilitate compromise between science, policy and practice whilst taking into consideration smaller-scale regional challenges. Given the results from the seaweed industry were similar to that of smallholder agricultural sectors, it is suggested that governmental programs to incentivise biosecurity in smallholder rural agriculture could be adapted for the seaweed industry. This study also demonstrates the potential use of the KAP survey, as a tool to accurately compare biosecurity challenges faced by farmers in different aquaculture sectors globally, and to encourage alignment in international approaches to aquaculture biosecurity policies.
The insecticide chlorpyrifos is extensively used in the humid tropics for insect control on crops and soils. Chlorpyrifos degradation and mineralization was studied under laboratory conditions to characterize the critical factors controlling the degradation and mineralization in three humid tropical soils from Malaysia. The degradation was fastest in moist soils (t1/2 53.3-77.0 days), compared to dry (t1/2 49.5-120 days) and wet soils (t1/2 63.0-124 days). Degradation increased markedly with temperature with activation energies of 29.0-76.5 kJ mol(-1). Abiotic degradation which is important for chlorpyrifos degradation in sub-soils containing less soil microbial populations resulted in t½ of 173-257 days. Higher chlorpyrifos dosages (5-fold) which are often applied in the tropics due to severe insects infestations caused degradation and mineralization rates to decrease by 2-fold. The mineralization rates were more sensitive to the chlorpyrifos application rates reflecting that degradation of metabolites is rate limiting and the toxic effects of some of the metabolites produced. Despite that chlorpyrifos is frequently used and often in larger amounts on tropical soils compared with temperate soils, higher temperature, moderate moisture and high activity of soil microorganisms will stimulate degradation and mineralization.
A novel, cost-effective and real-time process monitoring and control system was developed to maintain stable operation of waste-to-energy gasification process. It comprised a feedback loop control that utilized the differential temperatures of the oxidation and reduction zones in the gasifier to determine the regional heat-flow (endothermic or exothermic), to assess the availability of oxidizing agent (for instance, air or O2) at the char bed and to calculate the fuel feeding rate. Based on the correlations developed, the air-to-fuel ratio or the equivalence air ratio (ER) for air gasification could be instantaneously adjusted to maintain stable operation of the gasifier. This study demonstrated a simplification of complex reaction dynamics in the gasification process to differential temperature profiling of the gasifier. The monitoring and control system was tested for more than 70 h of continuous operation in a downdraft fixed-bed gasifier with refuse-derived fuel (RDF) prepared from municipal solid wastes (MSW). With the system, fuel feeding rate could be adjusted accurately to stabilize the operating temperature and ER in the gasifier and generate syngas with consistent properties. Significant reductions in the fluctuations of temperature profiles at oxidation and reduction zones (from higher than 100 °C to lower than 50 °C), differential temperatures (from ±200 to ±50 °C) in gasifier and the flow rate (from 16 ± 6.5 to 12 ± 1.8 L/min), composition of main gas components, LHV (from 6.2 ± 3.1 to 5.7 ± 1.6 MJ/Nm3) and tar content (from 8.0 ± 9.7 to 7.5 ± 4.2 g/Nm3) of syngas were demonstrated. The developed gasifier monitoring and control system is adaptable to various types (updraft, downdraft, and fluidized-bed) and scales (lab, pilot, large scale) of gasifiers with different types of fuel.
The production of highly polluting palm oil mill effluent (POME) has resulted in serious environmental hazards. While anaerobic digestion is widely accepted as an effective method for the treatment of POME, anaerobic treatment of POME alone has difficulty meeting discharge limits due to the high organic strength of POME. Hence, subsequent post-treatment following aerobic treatment is vital to meet the discharge limits. The objective of the present study is to investigate the aerobic treatment of anaerobically digested POME by using a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The SBR performance was assessed by measuring Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) removal as well as Sludge Volume Index (SVI). The operating pH and dissolved oxygen concentrations were found to be 8.25-9.14 and 1.5-6.4 mg/L, respectively, throughout the experiment. The experimental results demonstrate that MLVSS, OLR and sludge loading rate (SLR) play a significant role in the organic removal efficiency of SBR systems and therefore, further investigation on these parameters was conducted to attain optimum SBR performance. Maximum COD (95-96%), BOD (97-98%) and TSS (98-99%) removal efficiencies were achieved at optimum OLR, SLR and MLVSS concentration ranges of 1.8-4.2 kg COD/m(3)day, 2.5-4.6 kg TSS/m(3)day and 22,000-25,000 mg/L, respectively. The effluent quality remained stable and complied with the discharge limit. At the same time, the sludge showed good settling properties with average SVI of 65. It is envisaged that the SBR process could complement the anaerobic treatment to produce final treated effluent which meets the discharge limit.
This study aimed to identify the significant factors that give large effects on the efficiency of Cu(II) extraction from aqueous solutions by soybean oil-based organic solvents using fractional factorial design. Six factors (mixing time (t), di-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid concentration ([D2EHPA]), organic to aqueous phase ratio (O:A), sodium sulfate concentration ([Na(2)SO(4)]), equilibrium pH (pH(eq)) and tributylphosphate concentration ([TBP])) affecting the percentage extraction (%E) of Cu(II) were investigated. A 2(6-1) fractional factorial design was applied and the results were analyzed statistically. The results show that only [D2EHPA], pH(eq) and their second-order interaction ([D2EHPA] × pH(eq)) influenced the %E significantly. Regression models for %E were developed and the adequacy of the reduced model was examined. The results of this study indicate that fractional factorial design is a useful tool for screening a large number of variables and reducing the number of experiments.
Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a serious and expensive environmental problem in Malaysia. In this paper, CaFe2O4 is introduced as a novel photocatalyst for the degradation of POME under visible light irradiation. Two synthesis routes, auto-combustion and co-precipitation, and two calcination temperatures 550 °C and 700 °C were used to produce four CaFe2O4 catalysts AC550, AC700, CP550 and CP700. CP550 exhibited the greatest photocatalytic degradation at 56% chemical-oxygen-demand (COD) removal after 8 h of irradiation which dropped to 49% after three consecutive cycles indicating reasonable conversion and high recyclability. BET analysis indicated CP550 had the highest SBET (27.28 m2/g) and pore volume (0.077 cm3/g) which dropped precipitously for CP700 upon increasing the calcination temperature to an SBET of 9.73 m2/g and pore volume of 0.025 cm3/g due to annealing which created a smoother surface area as evidenced by the SEM images. UV-Vis DRS indicated CP550 had the highest band-gap (1.52 eV) which is likely due to the presence of a highly crystalline pure CaFe2O4 phase compared to the other products which existed as a mixture of Fe oxidation states evidenced by the XRD data. The PL spectra for all catalysts indicated significantly lower recombination rate for both CP550 and CP700. Introduction of IPA into the reaction mixture to eliminate hydroxyl radicals resulted in a diminishing of COD removal from 56% to 7% proving hydroxyl radicals to be the primary reactive species responsible for photodegradation of POME.
This paper empirically investigates the effect of carbon emissions on sovereign risk? To answer this question, we use fixed effects model by using annual data from G7 advanced economies, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and USA, for the period from 1996 to 2014. We employ a novel extreme value theory to measure sovereign risk. The results indicate that climate change (carbon emissions) are likely to increase sovereign risk significantly. We also expand our analysis to some specific sectors, as some of the sectors emit more carbon than others. Specifically, we take top three polluting sectors namely: transportation, electricity and industry and show that they are more likely to increase the sovereign risk. Our results are robust to change in risk measures, estimation in differences and dynamic version of econometric models. Therefore, we have robust consideration that the carbon emissions significantly explain the sovereign risk.
Triphenylmethane dyes (TPM) are recalcitrant colorants brought into the environment. In this study, a lesser-known white rot fungus Coriolopsis sp. (1c3), isolated from compost of Empty Fruit Bunch (EFB) of oil palm, was explored for its decolorization potential of TPM dyes. The isolate 1c3 demonstrated good decolorization efficiencies in the treatment of Crystal Violet (CV; 100 mg l(-1)), Methyl Violet (MV; 100 mg l(-1)) and Cotton Blue (CB; 50 mg(-1)), with 94%, 97% and 91%, within 7, 7 and 1 day(s), respectively. Malachite Green (MG; 100 mg l(-1)) was the most recalcitrant dye, with 52% decolorization after 9 days. Dye removal by 1c3 was presumably via biosorption, whereby the process was determined to be influenced by fungal biomass, initial dye concentrations and oxygen requirements. Biodegradation was also a likely mechanism responsible for dye removal by 1c3, occurred as indicated by the reduction of dye spectra peaks. Detection of laccase, lignin peroxidase and NADH-DCIP reductase activities further substantiate the possible occurrence of biodegradation of TPM dyes by 1c3.
To replace the obsolete ponding system, palm oil mill effluent (POME) steam reforming (SR) over net-acidic LaNiO3 and net-basic LaCoO3 were proposed as the POME primary treatments, with promising H2-rich syngas production. Herein, the long-term evaluation of POME SR was scrutinized with both catalysts under the optimal conditions (600 °C, 0.09 mL POME/min, 0.3 g catalyst, & 74-105 μm catalyst particle size) to examine the catalyst microstructure changes, transient process stability, and final effluent evaluation. Extensive characterization proved the (i) adsorption of POME vapour on catalysts before SR, (ii) deposition of carbon and minerals on spent SR catalysts, and (iii) dominance of coking deactivation over sintering deactivation at 600 °C. Despite its longer run, spent LaCoO3 (50.54 wt%) had similar carbon deposition with spent LaNiO3 (50.44 wt%), concurring with its excellent coke resistance. Spent LaCoO3 (6.12 wt%; large protruding crystals) suffered a harsher mineral deposition than spent LaNiO3 (3.71 wt%; thin film coating), confirming that lower reactivity increased residence time of reactants. Transient syngas evolution of both SR catalysts was relatively steady up to 4 h but perturbed by coking deactivation thereafter. La2O2CO3 acted as an intermediate species that hastened the coke removal via reverse Boudouard reaction upon its decarbonation. La2O2CO3 decarbonation occurred continuously in LaCoO3 system but intermittently in LaNiO3 system. LaNiO3 system only lasted for 13 h as its compact ash blocked the gas flow. LaCoO3 system lasted longer (17 h) with its porous ash, but it eventually failed because KCl crystallites blocked its active sites. Relatively, LaCoO3 system offered greater net H2 production (72.78%) and POME treatment volume (30.77%) than LaNiO3 system. SR could attain appreciable POME degradation (>97% COD, BOD5, TSS, & colour intensity). Withal, SR-treated POME should be polished to further reduce its incompliant COD and BOD5.
Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) is a type of polyesters produced in the form of accumulated intracellular granules by many microorganisms. It is viewed as an environmentally friendly bioproduct due to its biodegradability and biocompatibility. The production of the PHA using oil substrates such as waste oil and plant oil, has gained considerable attention due to the high product yield and lower substrate cost. Nevertheless, the PHA fermentation using oil substrate is complicated due to the heterogenous fatty acid composition, varied bio-accessibility and possible inhibitory effect on the bacterial culture. This review presents the current state-of-the-art of PHA production from oil-based substrates. This paper firstly discusses the technical details, such as the choice of bacteria strain and fermentation conditions, characteristic of the oil substrate as well as the PHA composition and application. Finally, the paper discusses the challenges and prospects for up-scaling towards a cleaner and effective bioprocess. From the literature review, depending on the cell culture and the type of PHA produced, the oil platform can have a PHA yield of 0.2-0.8 g PHA/g oil substrate, with PHA content mostly from 40 to 90% of the cell dry weight. There is an on-going search for more effective oil-utilising PHA producers and lower cost substrate for effective PHA production. The final application of the PHA polymer influences the treatment needed during downstream processing and its economic performance. PHA with different compositions exhibits varied decomposition behaviour under different conditions, requiring further insight towards its management towards a sustainable circular economy.
Environmental degradation is significantly studied both in the past and the current literature; however, steps towards reducing the environmental pollution in carbon emission and haze pollution like PM2.5 are not under rational attention. This study tries to cover this gap while considering the carbon emission and PM2.5 through observing the role of renewable energy, non-renewable energy, environmental taxes, and ecological innovation for the top Asian economies from 1990 to 2017. For analysis purposes, this research considers cross-sectional dependence analysis, unit root test with and without structural break (Pesaran, 2007), slope heterogeneity analysis, Westerlund and Edgerton (2008) panel cointegration analysis, Banerjee and Carrion-i-Silvestre (2017) cointegration analysis, long-short run CS-ARDL results, as well as AMG and CCEMG for robustness check. The empirical evidence in both the short- and long-run has confirmed the negative and significant effect of renewable energy sources, ecological innovation, and environmental taxes on carbon emissions and PM2.5. Whereas, non-renewable energy sources are causing environmental degradation in the targeted economies. Finally, various policy implications related to carbon emission and haze pollution like PM2.5 are also provided to control their harmful effect on the natural environment.
The surge in the use of antibiotics, especially in aquaculture, has led to development of antibiotic resistance genes, which will harm environmental and public health. One of the most commonly used antibiotics in aquaculture is oxytetracycline (OTC). Employing photocatalysis, this study compared OTC degradation efficiency of two different types of common photocatalysts, TiO2 and graphitic carbon nitride (GCN) in terms of their photochemical properties and underlying photocatalytic mechanism. For reference purpose, self-synthesized GCN from urea precursor (GCN-Urea) and commercial GCN (GCN-Commercial) were both examined. OTC adsorption-photocatalysis removal rates in pure OTC solution by TiO2, GCN-Urea and GCN-Commercial were attained at 95%, 60% and 40% respectively. Photochemical properties evaluated included light absorption, band gap, valence and conduction band positions, photoluminescence, cyclic voltammetry, BET surface area and adsorption capability of the photocatalysts. Through the evaluations, this study provides novel insights towards current state-of-the-art heterogeneous photocatalytic processes. The electron-hole recombination examined by photoluminescence is not the key factor influencing the photocatalytic efficacies as commonly discussed. On the contrary, the dominating factors governing the higher OTC degradation efficiency of TiO2 compared to GCN are the high mobility of electrons that leads to high redox capability and the high pollutant-photocatalyst affinity. These claims are proven by 86% and 40% more intense anodic and cathodic cyclic voltammetry curve peaks of TiO2 as compared to both GCNs. OTC also demonstrated 1.7 and 2.3 times higher affinity towards TiO2 than GCN-Urea and GCN-Commercial. OTC removal by TiO2 in real aquaculture wastewater only achieved 50%, due to significant inhibition effect by dissolved solids, dissolved organic matters and high ionic contents in the wastewater.
Inaccessible hygiene water sources and sanitation are one of the sustainability issues that need to be solved. An attempt to solve this problem is to change the conventional system used in the water supply and sewage treatment to sustainable water and waste management. To transform the system, companies initially need to map their business value chain. However, this process is often not receiving a full attention by the organisation. In an academic perspective, there are limited studies that map the value chains of water and waste systems. To overcome this limitation, the present study aims to map the value chain processes of the water and wastewater utility companies towards a sustainability solution. A review of related studies is used to conduct this study. Khuzestan Urban Water and Sewage company in Iran has been selected as case studies. The mapping results indicate a lack of sustainability integration in a water management system that leads to ineffective and inefficient water management. Value chain mapping process is significant for practitioners, particularly in the water and sewage companies, as a starting point for transforming their conventional water management systems towards sustainability. Experts at the company stated that value chain mapping as part of value chain analysis enables organisations to increase operational efficiency and eliminate waste by 57%.
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable and biocompatible polyester which are biosynthesized from the intracellular cells of microalgae through the cultivation of organic food waste medium. Before cultivation process, food waste must undergo several pre-treatment techniques such as chemical, biological, physical or mechanical in order to solubilize complex food waste matter into simpler micro- and macronutrients in which allow bio-valorisation of microalgae and food waste compound during the cultivation process. This work reviews four microalgae genera namely Chlamydomonas, Chlorella, Spirulina, and Botryococcus, are selected as suitable species due to rapid growth rate, minimal nutrient requirement, greater adaptability and flexibility prior to lower the overall production cost and maximized the production of PHAs. This study also focuses on the different mode of cultivation for the accumulation of PHAs followed by cell wall destabilization, extraction, and purification. Nonetheless, this review provides future insights into enhancing the productivity of bioplastic derived from microalgae towards low-cost, large-scale, and higher productivity of PHAs.
Fast pyrolysis is a potential technology for converting lignocellulosic biomass into bio-oil. Nevertheless, the high amounts of acid, oxygenated compounds, and water content diminish the energy density of the bio-oil and cause it to be unsuitable for direct usage. Catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) is able to improve bio-oil properties so that downstream upgrading processes can be economically feasible. Here, calcium oxide (CaO), magnesium oxide (MgO), and zinc oxide (ZnO) were employed due to their potential in enhancing bio-oil properties. The results showed that overall, all three catalysts positively impacted the empty fruit bunch fibre-derived bio-oil properties. Among the catalysts, CaO showed the most favorable effects in terms of reducing the acidity of the bio-oil and anhydrosugar. Thermal stability of bio-oils produced in the presence of CaO was studied as well.
In recent years, the research on human behaviour in relation to waste management has increased at an exponential rate. At the same time, the expanding academic literature on this topic makes it more difficult to understand the main areas of interest, the leading institutions and authors, the possible interconnections among different disciplines, and the gaps. This paper maps knowledge domain on recycling behaviour through bibliometric analysis and text mining in order to identify current trends, research networks and hot topics. 2061 articles between 1975 and 2020 from three different databases are examined with an interdisciplinary approach. The findings reveal that 60% of papers have been published between 2015 and 2020, and this topic is of global interest. Leading countries are mainly located in Europe, North America and Commonwealth; however, China and Malaysia are also assuming a driving role. Bibliometrics and text mining provide the intellectual configuration of the knowledge on recycling behaviour; co-word analysis individuates conceptual sub-domains in food waste, determinants of recycling behaviour, waste management system, waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), higher-level education, plastic bags, and local government. Overall, waste management and related human behaviour represent a universal challenge requiring a structured and interdisciplinary approach at all levels (individual, institutions, industry, academia). Lastly, this paper offers some suggestions for future research such as smart city design, sensor network system, consumer responsibilisation, the adoption of a more comprehensive view of the areas of investigation through the holistic analysis of all stakeholders.