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Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015) 199e210

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/ jc lepro

Minimizing the increasing solid waste through zero waste strategy

Qingbin Song, Jinhui Li*, Xianlai ZengState Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 19 January 2014Received in revised form13 June 2014Accepted 11 August 2014Available online 21 August 2014

Keywords:Solid wasteZero waste practicesWaste managementZero waste strategyChallenges and opportunities

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ86 (0)1062794143; fE-mail address: jinhui@tsinghua.edu.cn (J. Li).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.08.0270959-6526/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

a b s t r a c t

Increasing population, booming economy, rapid urbanization and the rise in community living standardshave significantly accelerated the solid waste generation in the world. Solid waste has become one of theglobal environmental issues. Continuous depletion of natural finite resources is leading the globe to anuncertain future. To prevent further depletion of global resources, sustainable consumption and a stra-tegic waste management systemwould be required. One approach that has been suggested as a means ofaddressing these concerns is that of the concepts of “Zero Waste”. However, transforming currently over-consuming activities into zero waste is still challenging. In this study, the challenges of solid waste(focusing on industrial waste e-waste, food waste and packaging waste), zero waste practices, and zerowaste strategy were discussed to analyze the challenges and opportunities to transform traditional wastemanagement toward zero waste vision. “Zero Waste” is a good solution to minimizing the increasingsolid waste. However, in order to minimize the solid waste, there are still more endeavors need to bedone in future.

© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Increasing population, booming economy, rapid urbanizationand the rise in community living standards have greatly acceleratedthe solid waste generation in the world, especially in developingcountries (Minghua et al., 2009; Guerrero et al., 2013). Solid wastehas become one of the global environmental issues (Seng et al.,2010; Sharholy et al., 2007). Waste is the symbol of inefficiency ofany modern society and a representation of misallocated resources.The global solid waste volume is estimated about 11 billion tons peryear (using 2.5ton trucks can turn 300 circles around the equator)in 2011, and per capita solid waste generation is approximately 1.74tons/year in theworld. On the other hand, alongwith the large solidwaste generation, an enormous amount of natural resources aredepleted everyday due to the high demand for new product de-mand (Menikpura et al., 2013; Plaganyi et al., 2013). Globally, 120-130 billion tons of natural resources are consumed every year andproduce around 3.4 to 4 billion tons of municipal solid waste(Giljum et al., 2008; Chalmin and Gaillochet, 2009). Creation of anywaste depletes natural resources, uses energy and water, placespressure on land, pollutes the environment and, finally, creates anadditional economic cost for managing the waste.

ax: þ86 (0)1062772048.

This large amount of waste has also created a huge pressure forthe authority to manage waste in a more sustainable manner(Shekdar, 2009; Cheng and Hu, 2010). Solid waste managementbecomes necessary and relevant when the structure of the societychanges from agricultural with low-density and widespread pop-ulation to urban, high-density population. Furthermore, industri-alization has introduced a large number of products which naturecannot, or can only very slowly, decompose or digest. Hence, certainindustrial products contain substances which, due to low degrad-ability or even toxic characteristics, may build up in nature to levelsrepresenting a threat to humanity's future use of the natural re-sources e that is, drinking water, agricultural soil, air and so on(Desmond, 2006; Menikpura et al., 2012; Troschinetz and Mihelcic,2009). Waste management systems have not received as muchattention in the city planning process as other sectors like water orenergy. Therefore, many gaps of waste management can beobserved in current planning. Global climate change and its variouseffects on human life drive current society toward more sustain-ability. Depletion of finite global resources also forces us to considerresource and product stewardship. One person's trash, the sayinggoes, is another person's treasure (Johnson et al., 2009; Boudreauet al., 2008). In recent years, one approach that has been sug-gested as a means of addressing these concerns is that of the con-cepts of “ZeroWaste” (Bartl, 2011; Phillips et al., 2011). Zero waste isa philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource's life cycles sothat all products are recycledhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reused(Zaman, 2014; Zaman and Lehmann, 2011; Young et al., 2010).

Q. Song et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015) 199e210200

No trash is sent to landfills and incinerators. The process recom-mended is one similar to the way that resources are reused innature.

The term “zero waste” was first used by Dr. Paul Palmer in 1973for recovering resources from chemicals (Palmer, 2004). In a zerowaste system, material flow is circular, which means the samematerials are used again and again until the optimum level ofconsumption. No materials are wasted or underused in circularsystem (Murphy and Pincetl, 2013; Mason et al., 2003; Colon andFawcett, 2006). Therefore, at the end of their lives products arereused, repaired, sold or redistributed within the system. If reuse orrepairs are not possible, they can be recycled or recovered from thewaste stream and used as inputs, substituting the demand for theextraction of natural resources. Fig. 1 shows the symbolic materialflow of a circular waste system, where the end-of-life product oroutput waste are treated as resources and used as inputs in themetabolism process (Curran and Williams, 2012; Matete and Trois,2008). Zero waste represents a shift from the traditional industrialmodel in which wastes are considered the norm, to integratedsystems in which everything has its use. It advocates an industrialtransformation, whereby businesses minimize the load theyimpose on the natural resource and learn to do more with what theEarth produces. From Fig.1, it can also be known that the zerowasteconcept include the “3R rule”d“Reduce, Reuse, Recycling”, whichhave been considered to be a base of environmental awareness anda way of promoting ecological balance through conscious behaviorand choices. It is generally accepted that these patterns of behaviorand consumer choices will lead to savings in materials and energywhich will benefit the environment.

The concepts of ‘Zero Waste’ have been implemented in anumber of countries (e.g. South Africa, New Zealand, China, India),provinces or states (Nova Scotia, California), as well as a range ofcompanies (e.g. DuPont, Fuji Xerox and Toyota) (Greyson, 2007;Matete and Trois, 2008). But how to transform our existing situ-ation into zero waste, and how to measure the performance of azero waste city are the prime questions. This study focuses onindustrial waste, electrical and electronic waste (e-waste), foodwaste and packaging waste to analyze the challenges and oppor-tunities, achieving a shift from traditional waste management tozero waste.

Fig. 1. Linear and cyclical resource flows.

2. The challenge of solid waste

2.1. Industrial waste

2.1.1. Industrial waste generationIndustrial waste is generated by industrial activity, such as that

of factories, mills and mines. It is still often a significant portion ofsolid waste. In 2011, the global generationwas about 9.2 billion tons(including construction waste) (See Table 1), and per capita in-dustrial waste is approximately 1.74 tons/year in the world. Asshown in Table 1, more than 50% was generated in Asia and thePacific, especially in China (3.2 billion tons in 2011) (Frost andSullivan, 2012; Wang et al., 2010).

As is indicated in Fig. 2, industrial waste in developing countries(such as China) has a fast increasing trend in the foreseeable future,while for the developed countries, industrial waste generation istending to stability or will decrease slowly (such as in Spain) (NBSC,2013; Frost and Sullivan, 2012). In addition, comparing with thedeveloped countries (more than 90% collection rate), many devel-oping countries remain at lower collection and recycling rate(China 67% in 2010; India less than 50% in 2010). Thus, the devel-oping countries are facing with more challenges from industrialwaste.

2.1.2. Environmental concernsRegarding the industrial waste (especially for hazardous waste),

illegal dumping and transboundary movement commonly attractsmore attention due to their potential threats on environment andhuman health.

Illegal dumping is a persistent problem because it threatenshuman health and the environment, imposes significant costs oncommunities, and has an adverse effect on public welfare (Legaet al., 2012; Penelope et al., 2010). Illegal dumping often attractsmore illegal dumping. Due to large generation of industrial waste,not all the waste can be collected and treated, therefore enormousindustrial waste was illegally dumped, especially in the developingcountries (Chartsbin, 2013).

Industrial waste producers are continuously faced with theproblem of disposing of their waste and must choose from anumber of different disposal and treatment options. Increasingly,they are choosing to export the waste to other countries (most aredeveloping countries) (Huang et al., 2012; Kojima et al., 2013). It isvery difficult to estimate how much hazardous waste is exportedevery year. The transboundary movement not only refers to thewaste export, but also means environmental pollution transferfrom the developed countries to developing countries. This isbecause most developing countries often own poor waste recyclingand treatment facilities, andmost wastewas treated in the informalrecycling sectors or directly dumped into the surrounding envi-ronment (Salihoglu, 2010; Thomas and Fannin, 2011).

Some serious environmental events occurred due to the illegaldumping and transboundary movement. In 2011, a chemical in-dustrial company in Yunnan Province illegally dumped 5222.38tons chromium slag (Peoples, 2011). In 2006, a ship registered inPanama, the Probo Koala, chartered by the Dutch-based oil andcommodity shipping company Trafigura Beheer BV, offloaded toxicwaste at the Ivorian port of Abidjan (Maantay and McLafferty,2011).

The reasons, why illegal dumping and transboundary move-ment happened, mainly associated with the potential economicbenefits (Havocscope, 2013), e.g., the cost to a European company toproperly dispose of toxic waste can cost around $1000 per ton, ifillegally dumping the materials, the cost would be about $2.50 forone ton; The cost to legally incinerate trash in the Netherlands is 4

Table 1The generation amount of industrial waste in 2011(million tons).

Items Europe Americas Africa and Middle East Asia Pacific Global

Generated 1933.19 914.7 921.24 5357.46 9176.68Collected 1531.71 765.8 270.91 3346.02 5914.50Key countries Germany, UK, France,

Russia, BulgariaUS, Brazil, Canada,Chile and Columbia

South Africa, Saudi Arabia,United Arab Emirates,Egypt and Tunisia

China, Japan, India,South Korea, Australia

e

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times more expensive than to smuggle it to China for illegaldumping.

2.2. E-waste

2.2.1. E-waste generationE-waste is a term used to cover all types of electrical and elec-

tronic equipment (EEE) that has or could enter the waste stream. Inthe last ten years, e-waste has become one of the world's fastestgrowing waste streams (In EU, historically, WEEE increases by16e28% every five years, which is three times faster than averageannual municipal solid waste generation) (Huisman, 2010; Zenget al., 2013). In 2011, the global e-waste is estimated that globale-waste generation is growing by about 40 million tons a year(about 0.63 kg/year*capita, EU: 16e18 kg/year*capita) (Song et al.,2013; Wang et al., 2013). The e-waste generations in the selectedcountries are shown in Table 2 (Pariatamby and Victor, 2013;Terazono et al., 2006).

2.2.2. Problems and concerns of e-wasteElectronics are complex devices which are made of a wide va-

riety of material constituents. These unwanted electronic productsare made up of plastics, metals, glass and other materials and ad-ditives, of which some are toxic. If they are improperly recycled,toxic substances, such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins anddibenzofurans (dioxins; PCDD/Fs), flame retardants, and heavymetals (e.g. lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium, and hex-avalent chromium) can be released and could cause serious envi-ronmental pollution (Duan et al., 2011; Lundgren, 2012).

The majority of electronic equipment is sold in developedcountries, such as the United States, Japan, Australia, and Europe,and it is estimated that between 50% and 80% of e-waste collectedfor recycling in the United States is shipped to less developedcountries (Kahhat et al., 2008; Namias, 2013). It has also been found

Fig. 2. Industrial waste

that the UK is the dominant European exporting country, followedby France and Germany (Basel Convention) (Torretta et al., 2013).Certain regions have become centres for informal electronic wasterecycling areas, the most prominent in Asia and in Africa, as shownin Fig. 3. Informal electronic waste recycling has also been reportedin: Qingyuan, Guiyu, Fengjiang, Zhejiang province, GuangdongProvince, China; Manila, Philippines; Bangalore, Chennai, India;Seoul, South Korea; New Territories, Hong Kong; and HaiPhong city,Dong Mai and Bui Dau, Vietnam (Sthiannopkao, 2013). Generally,the e-waste export market is quite diverse, ranging from smallfamily-based networks to large and well-organized trading firms.Table 3 shows us the transboundary movement of e-waste fromJanuary 2006 to October 2008 in Hong Kong, which indicated thatJapan and USwere themain exporting countries. As we know, no e-waste imported from other countries were treated, therefore it canbe known Hong Kong has become one important transfer center ofe-waste transboundary.

Workers and local residents are exposed to toxic chemicalsthrough inhalation, dust ingestion, dermal exposure and oralintake. Inhalation and dust ingestion impose a range of potentialoccupational hazards including silicosis (Grant et al., 2013; Qu et al.,2007). Overall, human health risks from e-waste include breathingdifficulties, respiratory irritation, coughing, choking, pneumonitis,tremors, neuropsychiatric problems, convulsions, coma and evendeath (Samarasekera, 2005; Wang et al., 2011).

In recent years, the media and environmental group shaveregularly exposed the smuggling and dumping of e-waste from thedeveloped countries to developing countries. The illegal trade isprimarily driven by profit, with a multimillion dollar turnover.According to the US EPA, it costs 10 times more to recycle a CRTmonitor in the United States than it would to illegally ship themonitor on the black market to Ghana, due to lower labor cost andenvironmental cost (USEPA, 2011; Xu et al., 2013). The lack ofreliable data on illegal waste activity is recognized to be a problem

generation trends.

Table 3Transboundary movement of e-waste between 2006.1 and 2008.10.

Exporting countries No. of convictions Waste types

Japan 31 Batteries and Cathode ray tubesUS 26 Batteries and Cathode ray tubesCanada 14 Batteries and Cathode ray tubesKorea 10 Batteries and Cathode ray tubesGhana 7 Batteries and Cathode ray tubesUnited Arab Emirates 6 Batteries and Cathode ray tubesOther places 44 Batteries and Cathode ray tubes

Source: Press Release of Hong Kong Government news

Table 2E-waste generation in the selected countries.

Country Total E-waste generated (tons/year) Year

Global 40,000,000 2011Switzerland 66,042 2003Germany 1,100,000 2005United Kingdom 1,200,000 2010USA 3,160,000 2008Taiwan 14,036 2003Thailand 60,000 2003Denmark 118,000 1997Canada 67,000 2005China 2,300,000 2008India 380,000 2011Philippines 58,000 2010Nigeria 60,000 e

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as the most common methods of illegal export are to disguise“second-hand goods”, mislabel containers and mix waste withlegitimate consignment (Ogunseitan, 2013). Another primarydriver of this trade is that e-waste contains valuable components, iseasy to source and relatively cheap to ship, and the risk of beingcaught is generally low.

2.3. Food waste

2.3.1. Food waste generationFood waste is food material that is discarded or unable to be

used. Food lost takes place in the five stages: Agricultural produc-tion, Postharvest handling and storage, Processing, Distribution andConsumption. Within the global context of increasingly scarcenatural resources, more than one-third of the food produced todayis not eaten, which is about 1.3 billion tons per year (Gustavssonet al., 2011; Hall et al., 2009). Overall, on a per-capita basis, muchmore food is wasted in the industrialized world than in developingcountries.

Fig. 3. Global e-w

The per capita food loss in Europe and North-America is280e300 kg/year. In Sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia,it is only 120e170 kg/year. Per capita food wasted in Consumptionphase in Europe and North-America is 95e115 kg/year, while thisfigure in sub-Saharan Africa and South/Southeast Asia is only6e11 kg/year (Gustavsson et al., 2011; FAOSTAT, 2010).

Food losses in industrialized countries are as high as in devel-oping countries, but in developing countries more than 40% of thefood losses occur at post-harvest and processing levels, while inindustrialized countries, more than 40% of the food losses occur atretail and consumer levels (Gunders, 2012; Kantor et al., 1997), suchas north American (talbe 4). Food waste at consumer level inindustrialized countries (222 million ton) is almost as high as thetotal net food production in sub-Saharan Africa (230 million ton).

2.3.2. Environmental impactsFood lost after harvest and food wasted along the distribution

and consumption chain, or food waste, has a dual negative envi-ronmental impact: Land, Water, Climate change, and biodiversity(Lundie and Peters, 2005; Collins and Fairchild, 2007).

2.3.2.1. Land. Intensive farming, without allowing fields to liefallow and replenish, diminishes oil fertility. Not using roughly one-third of the food produced globally means that soil is unnecessarily

aste export.

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pressured. Decreased soil quality leads to further use of syntheticinputs that cause pollution and eventually, loss of arable land. In2007, almost 1.4 billion hectares of land were used to produce foodnot consumed. This represents a surface larger than Canada andIndia together.

2.3.2.2. Water. Agriculture already uses 70 percent of the globalfreshwater withdrawal and any increased production will likelymean more water use. Water will be a key constraint to global se-curity and when food is wasted, the water is squandered. In 2007,the global blue water footprint for the agricultural production offood waste was about 250 km3; 3.6 times the blue water footprintof total USA consumption. In terms of volume, it represents almost3 times the volume of Lake Geneva, or the annual water dischargeof the Volga River (FAOSTAT, 2013).

2.3.2.3. Climate change. Food and agriculture systems heavilydepend on fossil-fuel energy. Petroleum is used in almost everyaspect of food production, from creating fertilizers, to mechanizedplanting and harvesting, irrigation, cooling and transportation.Furthermore, when food is discarded in a landfill and decomposesanaerobically, it yields methane emissions, a gas more than 25timesas potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat. In 2007, the globalcarbon footprint, excluding land use change, of food waste has beenestimated at 3.3 G tons of CO2eq. This amount is more than twicethe total GHG emissions of all USA road transportation in 2010(Takase et al., 2005; FAOSTAT, 2013). Food is the primary source oflandfill gas and the largest component of materials sent to landfills.In USA, landfill gas is responsible for 17 percent of USA methaneemissions.

2.3.2.4. Biodiversity. The food not eaten is one of several factorsthat contribute to biodiversity loss through habitat change, over-exploitation, pollution and climate change.

➢ Prompted in part by global food production inefficiency, 9.7million hectares are deforested annually to grow food; thisrepresents 74 percent of total annual deforestation (FAOSTAT,2013).

➢ Food waste contributes to agricultural expansion into wild areasand increased fishing efforts that unduly overexploit forest andmarine habitats. This results in loss of wildlife, includingmammals, birds, fishes and amphibians. Up to 70 percent of allfish caught by certain types of trawling is discarded.

2.4. Packaging waste

2.4.1. Packaging waste generationPackaging wastemeans all the abandoned products made of any

materials to be used for the containment, protection, handling,delivery and presentation of goods (Marsh and Bugusu, 2007). Asestimated, the global packaging waste volume is about 420milliontons (about 40 kg/year*capita; China: 12 kg/year*capita; EU27:161 kg/year*capita in 2011 (Li et al., 2013; Xie et al., 2013).Packaging waste mainly includes paper and board (40%), glass(20%), plastics (19%), wood (15%), and metal (6%) (Huang et al.,2007).

2.4.2. Environmental impacts2.4.2.1. Plastics packaging waste pollution. A large amount of plasticpackaging waste currently going in to the landfills, and these ma-terials break down very slowly, thus creating a significant wastedisposal impact in the Landfills. This results some environmentalproblems: an increase in landfill burdens; an increase in toxicemissions to the environment; an increase in the use and

production of non-renewable resources. The non-biodegradableplastics packaging waste have been associated with a visualdilemma called “White Pollution” in China. There is also a lack ofenvironmental awareness amongst the citizens contributing to theadverse impact caused by plastic materials; the materials arethrown away resulting in foam boxes everywhere, unaware of theeffect on their city's image and more importantly their environ-ment (GTE, 2010; SHG, 2008).

2.4.2.2. Excessive packaging. Extravagant packaging has become soprevalent in developed countries that unwrapping three layers ofplastic and paper to eat a piece of chocolate is a regular practice (Ji,2013; Zheng, 2013). While product packaging may seem trivial, itactually has immense impact across the supply chain. Resource andwastage problems relating to packaging are significant given thevast quantities of products that are over dressed for no other rea-sons than to please the eye. Excessive packaging necessitates morematerials, more resources to manufacture, so entailing more costs;over packaged products incur a hefty toll on the environment asproduct packaging is usually discarded quickly, ending up inlandfills. Naturally excessive packaging are physically larger andheavier which place greater burden on logistics, thus incurringhigher financial and environment costs.

3. Zero waste practices of solid waste

As shown in the above, it can be known that we are facing withthe large challenges of solid waste. In a world with finite resources,achieving a state of Zero-waste may eventually become an imper-ative due to the great environmental pressures in future. At present,some good zero waste practices has been put forward and imple-mented through the cities, companies, individual, and the wastereycling industry (GAIA, 2013). The case studies are meant toinspire these cities, companies, individual, and the waste reyclingindustry to further their own zero waste efforts and the other or-ganizations and individuals to develop the new zero waste in-vestment and implementation plans.

3.1. Zero waste cities

3.1.1. Adelaide, AustraliaAdelaide is the capital city of South Australia and comprises 19

local council areas. A total of 1,089,728 inhabitants live in an841.5 km2 urban area (UN-HABITAT, 2010). Adelaide City Council(ACC) is responsible for wastemanagement in Adelaide. ZeroWasteSA (ZWSA) is a South Australian state government organizationestablished by legislation called Zero Waste SA Act (2004). ZWSAenables people to improve their recycling and waste avoidancepractices at home, work, and industry (ZWSA, 2011).

In the context of waste management systems, Adelaide has ahigh percentage of waste collection systems compared to othercapital cities in Australia. Container deposit legislationwas adoptedin 1977; therefore, recycling of different packing containers hasbeen practiced for more than three decades. Zero Waste SA isworking to achieve a zero waste area in South Australia (Zaman,2013).

3.1.2. San FranciscoSan Francisco has established itself as a global leader in waste

management. The city has achieved 77% waste diversion, thehighest in the United States, with a three pronged approach:enacting strong waste reduction legislation, partnering with a like-minded waste management company to innovate new programs,and working to create a culture of recycling and compostingthrough incentives and outreach (Zaman and Lehmann, 2013).

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3.2. Companies

Regarding zero waste, the first most important element is toreduce the generation of waste, which not only eliminates theproblem but also reduces the use of resources, energy, water, etc.

3.2.1. Coca-Cola CompanyPackaging is a great example of where some goodwork has been

done. Companies are using new materials and new technologies toprovide the same protection with less material and therefore lesswaste (Coca-Cola Company, 2013). Coca Cola reports that they havedone many beneficial works, such as:

➢ Trimming the weight of their 20-ounce PET plastic bottle bymore than 25%;

➢ Shaving 30% from the weight of their 12-ounce aluminum can;➢ Lightening their 8-ounce glass bottle by more than 50%.

And better yet, in their 2011/2012, Coca Cola reported saving$180 million from reducing their packaging.

3.2.2. Subaru USSubaru US has done a great job at their Lafayette site in Indiana,

and Subaru reports that they are recycling or reusing 95% of theirwaste, through the following practices.

➢ Copper-laden slag left over from welding is collected and ship-ped to Spain for recycling.

➢ Styrofoam forms encasing delicate engine parts are returned toJapan for the next round of deliveries.

➢ Even small protective plastic caps are collected in bins to bemelted down to make something else.

Table 4Food losses in North America.

Phases Grainproducts

Seafood Fruits &vegetables

Meat Milk

Production 2% 11% 20% 3% 3%Postharvest handling

and storage2% 0.5% 3% 2% 0.25%

Processing, 10% 5% 1% 4% 0.5%Distribution 2% 9.5% 12% 4% 0.25%Consumption 27% 33% 28% 12% 17%

3.2.3. DuPontIn 2012, the DuPont Building Innovations business carried out

“Zero Landfill” and was able to find ways to recycle many of thematerials from the Corian site (DuPont, 2012):

➢ Scrap sheet & trim e ground back into 1st grade or ground intorock;

➢ Carrier film e recycled into glue;➢ Metal e melted down and recast;➢ Banding e melted and recast into same;➢ Pallets e repaired and repurposed;➢ Scrap wood e ground into animal bedding;➢ Paper & Cardboard e recycled back into same.

3.3. Individual

3.3.1. Door-to-door collection program, Hernani, SpainThe regional waste management consortium in Spain's Gipuz-

koa Province, faced with a nearly full and fill in 2002, proposedbuilding two new incinerators (Allen, 2012a). The waste generationwas about 0.86 kg/capita/day. Citizens strongly opposed the in-cinerators and prevented one from being built. Although the sec-ond is now under construction, Hernani and two other small citiesin the region have established an ambitious program of door-to-door collection of source-separated waste, including organics,which has been enthusiastically embraced by residents. Theamount of waste going to the landfill has been reduced by 80percent, and waste diversion rate was 79%. Public spending percapita in solid waste management was US $115 per year With newpolitical leader ship opposed to incineration, door-to-door collec-tion is poised to expand throughout the region.

3.3.2. Community action, Taiwan, ChinaThe island of Taiwan faced a waste crisis in the 1980s because of

lack of space to expand its landfill capacity. When the governmentturned to large-scale incineration, the community's fierce opposi-tion not only stopped the construction of dozens of burners, butalso drove the government to adopt goals and programs for wasteprevention and recycling (Allen, 2012b). These programs and pol-icies were so effective that the volume of waste decreased signifi-cantly even while both population and gross domestic productincreased. Its waste diversion rate was about 48.82%, and thespending on waste management per capita was $25.40 per year.However, the government, by maintaining both pro-incineratorand waste prevention policies, has capped the potential of wasteprevention strategies because large investments in incinerationdrain resources that could otherwise be used to improve andexpand them.

3.3.3. Waste pickers, Pune, IndiaOver the last 20 years, Pune's waste pickers have created a

remarkable transformation in their city's municipal waste man-agement system and in their own lives. These informal sector col-lectors of recyclable materials formed a union to protect their rightsand bring dignity to their work (Tangri, 2012). The union has beenso successful that it has allowed them to implement door-to-doorcollection, source separation, and separate treatment for organics,all while improving waste picker livelihoods and working condi-tions. Nowadays, thewaste pickers' own cooperative is pioneering awider-reaching and more rigorous zero waste program. Avoidedcosts to city were about $2.8 million per year Table 4.

3.4. E-waste recycling

As mentioned above, e-waste are made up of plastics, metals,glasses, other materials and additives, as shown in Table 5. At thesame time, the e-waste recycling processes exist the potentialenvironmental and human health effects.

Though e-waste recycling belongs to the end of life stage, it needto solve the issues from the pespective of the whole life cycles.Firstly, in order to recycling the e-waste more efficient, the eco-design and new technologies should be adopted to simplify andnormalize the structure of e-products; Secondly, new environmentfriendly materials should be applied to reduce utilization of thehazardous materials in the new e-products, which can decrease thepotential environmental and human health risk. e.g. the Directiveon the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances inElectrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS), whose aim is to reducethe use of hazardous substances, such as lead, mercury, cadmium,hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and pol-ybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), in electrical and electronicproducts. Thirdly, source reduction is also a good way to realize thezero waste strategy. For source reduction of e-waste, the reuse ofold products are very important. The reuse extends the lifecyle of e-products, and reduce the e-waste generation, which is very helpful

Table 5Main components of typical e-products (% wt).

Styles Plastic Aluminum Copper Steel Glass Others

PC(CRT monitor) 23 14 7 21 30 5Air conditioner 11 7 17 55 0 10TV set 23 2 3 10 57 5Refrigerator 40 3 4 50 <1 3Washing machine 36 3 4 53 <1 4

Q. Song et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015) 199e210 205

for realizing the zero waste. In China, when the e-products areabondoned, the residents often send these old ones to their rela-tives, which often have relatively poor economic conditions. Inaddition, the products that can't work will be repaired in thesecond-hand shop, and then are sold to the consumers. Finally,most of the e-waste can be recycled as the renewable resources,and Fig. 4 presented the e-waste recycling processes in China.Comparing with the mechanical treatment in the developedcountries, using more mannual dismantling processes in China canreach to a higher resource utilization rate. In the formal enterprisesof China, the waste diversion rate was more than 95%, and onlysmall part waste was processed for Incineration and Landfill.

Through the perspectives of the whole life cycle and utilizationof eco-design, new technologies, new materials, high-efficientreycling technologies, and suitable laws and legislations, e-wasterecycling in the world, especially the China, was marching towardrealizing the zero waste strategy.

Zero waste practices have been explored to provide someprecious experiences for realizing the sustainability of wastemanagement by governments, companies and individuals.

Fig. 4. E-waste recy

However, these practices are very limited, and therewas still no theeffective ways to establish the zero waste system.

4. Zero waste strategy of solid waste

There is no straightforward path for a solution to current wasteproblems. On one hand, the consumption of resources has beenincreasing over time and hence, the generation of waste has alsobeen rising (Section 2). On the other hand, cities, companies andother organizations want to realize zero waste goal despitecontinuous increasing per capitawaste creation. Therefore, withouta comprehensive and strategic roadmap, the zero waste goals maynot be achieved in the desired timeframe. Here, we summarized thezero waste researches to put forward the four requirements forrealizing the zero waste strategy: zero waste roadmap, zero wasteprinciples and indexes, zero waste key strategies, and the wastemanagement hierarchy.

4.1. The road of zero waste

Zero waste can represent an economical alternative to wastesystems, where new resources are continually required to replenishwasted raw materials. It can also represent an environmentalalternative to waste since waste represents a significant amount ofpollution in the world. Zero waste concepts describe very nice andideal image of environment and resource utilization. However, thepursuit of zero waste for an organization or community can beextremely challenging. Regardless, the social, economic and envi-ronmental benefits of zero waste provide tremendous returns ifyou can do the work in a clear and cohesive manner.

cling processes.

Q. Song et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015) 199e210206

In the world, there was no consistent and standard road torealize the goal of zero waste. The Zero Waste Alliance (ZWA) hasworked with a wide variety of organizations and communities tohelp them successfully develop and implement zero waste initia-tives (ZWA, 2013). While each of these engagements was unique,ranging from specific products to entire cities, the process follows aconsistent path, shown in Fig. 5. Though not all the organizations orcommunities can realize the zero waste through the 8 steps, itprovides a systematic approach for these organizations who wantto establish the zero waste.

4.2. Zero waste principles and index

‘Zero waste’ is one of the most visionary concepts for solvingwaste problems. When zero waste is linked with the specific citiesor companies, we often want to know whether a city or companyreaches the zero waste, therefore, how to evaluate the process willbecome very important.

4.2.1. Zero waste principlesFig. 2 shows that how to evaluate if the organizations, especially

for the business companies, achieve the zero waste. These ZeroWaste Principles in Fig. 6 will be the basis for evaluating thecommitment of companies to achieve Zero Waste. The detail of theprinciples can be obtained as reported by ZWIA, 2013. ThesePrinciples will also enable workers, investors, customers, suppliers,policymakers and the public in general to better evaluate theresource efficiency of companies (ZWIA, 2013).

4.2.2. Zero waste indexRecently, most researches on zero waste mainly focused on the

city zero waste. Many studies have been conducted on urbanmetabolism. Researchers worked on different contexts to under-stand urbanmetabolism such asmaterial flow, energy flow, and etc.

Fig. 5. The road map

There are many ways to measure the waste management systemsin a city. Decision makers and waste experts use various indicatorssuch as the per capita generation rate, collection rate and recyclingrate to measure the performance of the waste management sys-tems. In the last decade, the waste diversion rate has been used asan important indicator to measure the performance of a city.

Recent research on the environmental performance of cities hasbeen initiated by Siemens through a project called Green City Index(Siemens, 2012). The Green City Index measures and rates the envi-ronmental performance of cities from Asia, Europe, Africa and NorthAmerica. In the study, Siemens considers around 8 different envi-ronmental indicators including environmental governance, CO2, en-ergy, buildings, transport, waste and land use, water, air quality. Forexample, theEuropeanGreenCity Indexevaluates16quantitativeand14qualitative indicators. In Europe, Copenhagen leads the Index,withthe neighboring Nordic cities of Stockholm and Oslo close behind.

Waste diversion from landfill has been widely accepted by thegovernments, waste authorities and city corporations. The diver-sion rate can be defined as the percentage of total waste that isdiverted from disposal at permitted landfills and transformationfacilities such as incineration, and instead is directed to reduction,reuse, recycling and composting programs (CalRecycle, 2012). Thewaste diversion rate can be formulated as in Equation (1).

Diversion rate ¼ Weight of recyclablesWeight of garbageþWeight of recyclables

� 100%

(1)

whereas: Recyclables ¼ waste that is reused, recycled, compostedor digested; Garage ¼ waste that is landfilled or incinerated.

Considering that the waste diversion rate does not indicate thevirgin material replacement efficiency of the waste management

to zero waste.

Fig. 6. Zero waste principles.

Q. Song et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015) 199e210 207

system, which is very critical in conservation of global natural re-sources, Zaman and Lehmann (2013) proposes a ‘zero waste index’(ZWI) as a new tool to measure waste management performance.The zero waste index is a tool to measure the potentiality of virginmaterials to be offset by zero waste management systems. The zerowaste index can be formulated as in Equation (2).

ZWI ¼Pn

1WMSi� SFiPn

1GWS(2)

whereas: WHSi ¼ amount of waste managed by system i (i ¼ 1, 2, 3… n ¼ amount of waste avoided, recycled, etc); SFi ¼ Substitutionfactor for different waste management systems based on theirvirgin material replacement efficiency; GWS ¼ Total amount ofwaste generated (tons of all waste streams).

Fig. 7. Zero was

4.3. The management strategies of zero waste

For the products, from the extraction of raw materials to finaldisposal, there are many approaches, methods, tools and principlesthat have been used to tackle different problems in the field of solidwaste and resource efficiency. The key strategies identified forapplying zero waste in solid waste management will mainlyinclude four levels, as shown in Fig. 7.

The first level is the design processes before the manufacturing,and the methods of energy and environmental analysis can be usedto characterize the first level, which mainly refers to eco-design,new technologies, life cycle assessment (LCA), closed-loop supplychain management, and product stewardship. These strategies willreduce the usage of materials (especially the hazardous materials)and energy, optimize the product function, and clearly define theresponsibility of producers.

te systems.

Q. Song et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015) 199e210208

➢ Eco-designdddesigning waste out of the system is acknowl-edged to be of particular importance to achieving real im-provements in waste reduction across the system (Li et al.,2014).

➢ Use of new technologiesddinnovative technologies in newproducts and industrial processes can have powerful environ-mental as well as economic impacts.

➢ LCAddit is now accepted that obtaining the true environ-mental impact of products requires measuring the impactsacross the whole physical life cycle from raw materials throughproduction and use phases to end of life, and that considerationin this way can lead to more sustainable patterns of productionand consumption. Carbon footprint measurement has also beenidentified as being important with the future increase in use ofcarbon targets and budgets in Europe.

➢ Closed-loop supply chain managementddincorporatingreverse logistics to close the loop and optimize the flows ofmaterials, products and wastes in the procurement, distributionand recycling functions.

➢ Product stewardshipddextended producer responsibility(EPR) and particularly individual producer responsibility (IPR),are regarded as important tools to enforce producers to take fullresponsibility for their products, especially at their end of life.

The second level refers to the manufacturing processes, andmainly includes the clean production strategydda way ofdesigning products and manufacturing processes in harmony withnatural ecological cycles. It is intended to minimize waste andemissions and maximize product output. By analyzing the flow ofmaterials and energy in a company, one tries to identify options tominimize waste and emissions out of industrial processes throughsource reduction strategies.

The third levels (sale and use stage) refers to the eco-labelingand environmental awareness strategies. Without proper envi-ronmental awareness, it would not be possible to achieve zerowaste goals. As the current trend of consumption is unsustainableand cannot be continued for ever, it is important to understand thereality and act accordingly. Indeed, 25% of the reduction in emis-sions will have to come from behavioral change. Eco-label pro-grams are certification programs in which a product, process, ormanagement system is certified to meet specific environmentalcriteria as established by an assessment body, which can lead theconsumers to buy the environmentally friendly products. Manu-facturers wishing to achieve certification to an eco-label programmay enjoy marketing advantages because the certification posi-tively differentiates their products as environmentally sound.

The fourth level is the end of life stage, and the most importantfor this level is to establish an effective environmental managementsystemddplans, schedules, implements and monitors, those ac-tivities, including material recovery, pollution prevention, aimed atimproving environmental performance. It is a problem identifica-tion and problem solving tool that provides organizations with amethod to systematically manage their environmental activities,products and services and helps to achieve their environmentalobligations and performance goals.

For the mentioned strategies, there were no obvious limitsduring the four levels, e.g. the LCA method can be also used in themanufacturing, recycling and disposal phase; and EPR also refers tothe recovery and treatment of the abandoned product.

4.4. Solid waste management hierarchy

In the above contents, more attention focused on how onecompanies or one city can achieve zerowaste. Here, wewill considerhow the generated solidwaste can be easier to realize the zerowaste.

When the solid waste was generated from industrial, commercial,mining and agricultural operations, and community activities, therewill be several measures to be used to treat and disposal thesewaste.

The waste management hierarchy is a nationally and interna-tionally accepted guide for prioritizing waste management prac-tices with the objective of achieving optimal environmentaloutcomes and resource utilization. It sets out the preferred order ofwaste management practices, from most to least preferred (wasteprevention, reuse, recycling, composting, incineration and finallandfill) (Zeng et al., 2010, 2012). The waste management hierarchyis one of the guiding principles of the Zero Waste, which has beenregarded in South Australia's Waste Strategy 2011e2015 as a keyelement for guiding waste management practices in SouthAustralia (Zero waste SA, 2013).

Waste preventiondoften called source reductiondmeansreducing waste by not producing it. Examples of waste preventionwould include purchasing durable, long-lasting goods and seekingproducts and packaging that are as free of toxic substances aspossible. It can be as simple as switching from disposable to reus-able products, or as complex as redesigning a product to use fewerraw materials or to last longer. Because waste prevention actuallyavoids waste generation, it is the most preferred waste manage-ment activity. To reuse is to use an item again after it has been used.Reuse requires less energy than recycling, although designs whichare both adaptable and durable are essential to its success. Otherfactors, such as the consumer desire for ‘newness’, can conspireagainst reuse. Recycling is a process to change materials (waste)into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials,reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy us-age, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution(from landfilling). For the waste disposal, the compost, incinerationand landfill will be used, with a less preferred hierarchy.

In order to effectively address the zero waste for solid waste,there needs to be a move beyond recycling into the largely un-charted territory of the higher end of the hierarchy, to reuse, reduceand prevention, with a particular emphasis on eco-efficiency (thesame or greater utility from less material input).

4.5. Discussion

Zero Waste strategy is a sound business tool that, when inte-grated into business processes, provides an easy to understandstretch goal that can lead to innovative ways to identify, preventand reduce wastes of all kinds. It strongly supports sustainability byprotecting the environment, reducing costs and producing addi-tional jobs in themanagement and handling of wastes back into theindustrial cycle. Zero Waste strategy may be applied to businesses,communities, industrial sectors, schools and homes.

Zero waste not only refers to the mentioned environmental, andtechnological aspect, but also includes socio-economic and politicalaspects, and have many stakeholders. All these aspects are inter-related and dynamic in nature. Therefore, waste management sys-tems create a complex cluster of different aspects, and functions ofthis complex cluster are also dynamic and interdependent. Globalclimate change and its various effects on human life drive currentsociety toward a more sustainable one. Depletion of finite globalresources forces us to consider resource and product stewardship.Therefore, ‘zero waste’ management is a holistic view of preventingandmanagingwaste and resources from the sustainable perspective.

The strategies (Section 4.3) developed for recycling or managingwaste should be affordable in the socio-economic context, regula-tory or manageable in the socio-political context, applicable in thepolicy and technological context, effective or efficient in the contextof economy and technology, and finally all these aspects should bedirectly related to environmental sustainability. The established

Q. Song et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 104 (2015) 199e210 209

zero waste should be a sound strategy, which can be easily un-derstood by engaged people, save money from economic aspect,promote the waste prevention through the redesign, reuse andrepair process, improve the waste recovery using the recycling andcomposting, and finally lead to conservation of resources and en-ergy. In the effective zero waste system, it also can create jobs inreturn logistics and reprocessing activities.

In fact, the real “zero waste” (all discarded materials aredesigned to become resources for others to use) cannot be realizedin the real world. First, it has the limits of thermodynamics, whichstate that totally closed cycles are not possible, losses are bound tooccur if energy resources are limited. Second, a complete recyclingsociety would also mean that all products we use contain recycledmaterials. Since many of today's wastes contain substances of thepast, some not even legally accepted today, recycling must elimi-nate these hazardous substances in order to protect men and theenvironment. The primary goal of zero waste focuses more on howto guide people in changing their lifestyles and practices to emulatesustainable natural cycles, where more discarded materials aredesigned to become resources for others to use.

Solid waste contain many categories, such as industrial waste, e-waste, MSW, packaging waste, food waste, and etc. However, thecurrent researches pay more attention on MSW, which only ac-counts for less than 20% of the solid waste. Future studies shouldconsider zero waste system of other wastes, in order to morecomprehensively realize the zero waste strategy.

5. Conclusions

With the fast economic development and globalization, a greatmount of solid waste was generated, and has attracted the globalfocus, due to the potential environmental impacts and waste ofresources, such as the illegal dumping and transboundary move-ment of industrial waste, the informal recycling of e-waste, the foodloss and greenhouse gas emission, the resource consumption ofexcessing packaging. Today, we are facing with more serious solidwaste issues than the past, and how to address solid waste issuesbrings the huge challenge for the whole world.

The concept of “Zero Waste” is an effective way to solve the solidwaste issues. Zero waste is to encourage the redesign of resource lifecycles so that all products are reused. In order to better understandthe zero waste, the typical practices of zero waste were presented inthis study. At present, manymeaningful efforts have been carried outin the cities, companies, and individual, which provide many goodsuggestions for us to realize the zero waste in future.

From the zero waste practices, the zero waste strategy has alsobeen summarized in the study. A systematic approach to realizingthe zero waste was introduced, and in general 8 steps were oftenutilized in the consistent path mentioned. Expect the road, the ZeroWaste Principleswere also put forward to evaluate if the companiesand organizations achieve Zero Waste. These Principles will alsoenable workers, investors, customers, suppliers, policymakers andthe public in general to better evaluate the resource efficiency ofcompanies. In addition, decision makers and waste experts usevarious indicators to measure the performance of the waste man-agement systems. In the last decade, thewaste diversion rate, greencity index, and zero waste index have been used as an importantindicator to measure the performance of a city. In order to realizingzero waste, some key strategies should be applied from theextraction of raw materials to final disposal, such as eco-design,eco-labeling, closed-loop supply chain management, and cleanproduction, etc. To effectively address the zero waste for solidwaste, there needs to be a move beyond recycling into the largelyuncharted territory of the higher end of the waste management

hierarchy, to reuse, reduce and prevention, with a particularemphasis on eco-efficiency.

Though many zero practices and zero waste approaches haveexisted in the current world, zero waste management includessocio-economic, political, environmental, and technological aspectsand has many stakeholders. Zero waste is a very complex system,and there are still mountains of works need to done in future. Inorder to minimize the solid waste to zero waste, it needs all ofpeople together to act to reduce, reuse, and recycling them forgetting rid of waste from our land. Zero waste is indeed a desirablegoal. However, although a path towards zero waste may alreadyhave been forged, there is still a long road ahead of us.

Acknowledgments

The work was financially supported by the National NatureScience Foundation of China (20131351422), China PostdoctoralScience Foundation (2013M540966), and a special fund of the StateKey Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and PollutionControl (11Z02ESPCT).

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