Current Practice of Managing the Waste of the Waste: Policy, Market, and Organisational Factors Influencing Shredder Fines Management in Sweden

Environmental potential of shredder fines valorisation

Millions of tonnes of shredder fines are disposed of annually across the world. In Sweden, fines are primarily utilised in landfill covering. Given the decreasing landfilling and the increasing environmental concerns, the valorisation of this residue is becoming ever important. In order to guide sustainable investment decisions and governance of fines valorisation, this study aimed to assess the environmental potential of different valorisation alternatives. In doing so, three conceptual valorisation process schemes were formulated together with the shredding industry, each based on principally different resource recovery strategies: 1) maximising copper recovery, 2) maximising construction aggregates recovery, and 3) optimising full resource recovery. A streamlined life cycle assessment (LCA) of these valorisation alternatives was performed in relation to the impact categories of climate change, ozone depletion, acidification, and resource depletion. The results of this study generally suggest that in the context of Sweden, Alternatives 1 and 3 are preferable over Alternative 2 regarding all the impact categories. There, Alternative 3 is more preferable regarding climate change, while Alternative 1 is preferable regarding the other impact categories. Several environmental hot spots occur along the different life cycle stages of the fines-derived secondary raw materials. The Monte Carlo simulation of the parameter uncertainties generally confirms the overall LCA findings.

Mapping the Research Trends of Household Waste Recycling: A Bibliometric Analysis

Household waste recycling has been widely considered the key to reducing the pollution caused by municipal solid waste and promoting sustainable development. This article aims to clarify the status and map the research trends in the field of household waste recycling. Bibliometric analysis is performed using bibliometrix based on publications during 1991–2020 in the Web of Science database. Results show that academic output in this field is growing rapidly. The top contributing authors, countries, institutions, and journals are identified. Collaboration network of authors, institutions, and countries are created and visualized. The most influential and cited articles in this field mainly focus on factors influencing residents’ recycling behavior from the perspectives of sociopsychology and economics. The theory of planned behavior is the most widely used psychological model. Other research hotspots include electronic waste, source separation, life cycle assessment, sustainability, organic waste, and circular economy. Studies on household waste recycling have become more and more comprehensive and interdisciplinary with the evolution of research themes.