Opportunities and challenges for the waste management in emerging and frontier countries through industrial symbiosis

The development of industrial and commercial activities in developing countries has increased the amount of waste generated by economic activities, which has generated environmental problems due to the complexity of waste management. Due to the economic, environmental, social, and sustainability implications, proper waste management has become a worldwide concern. In response to this problem, strategies have been implemented to develop clean energy, improve the efficiency of industrial resources, and recycle and reuse materials. As a result, the concept of industrial symbiosis (IS) has emerged as a strategy for waste utilization in a productive chain, based on physical exchanges of waste and materials, which finds ways to use the waste from one industry as inputs or raw materials for the other, all supported by business collaboration. This work aims to identify the opportunities and challenges that emerging and frontier countries have for waste utilization through the IS approach through a literature review. The needs that triggered the IS and how researchers materialized this approach to integrate the harnessing resources and materials in economic activities were identified. This paper identifies how emerging and frontier countries realize solid waste management through IS, and highlights opportunities for governments, researchers, and stakeholders to make effective decisions to achieve sustainable development, reduce environmental concerns and address current waste management issues. The literature review identified IS as an excellent way to dispose of and use the solid waste but also showed that emerging and frontier countries face many challenges in solid waste management due to the lack of policies focused on sustainability, lack of communication and trust among stakeholders, low use of technology in the industrial sector and technical barriers.

Automated summary

The development of industrial and commercial activities in developing countries has led to an increase in waste generation, resulting in complex waste management issues. Industrial symbiosis has emerged as a strategy to utilize waste in a productive chain through physical exchanges of materials and waste. However, emerging and frontier countries face challenges in solid waste management due to the lack of sustainability-focused policies, communication and trust issues among stakeholders, and technological barriers.