This book analyses 'zero-waste' (ZW) as an emerging waste management strategy for the future, which considers waste prevention through innovative design and sustainable consumption practices.
Drawing on a diverse range of case studies from Australia, Bangladesh, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, and the USA, this book explores why urban waste management systems still remain a major challenge for almost all cities around the world. Rejecting waste as an 'end-of-life' problem, Atiq Zaman and Tahmina Ahsan instead consider waste prevention through the ZW model, in which resources are utilized and consumed with minimum environmental degradation. In addition, the authors give extended discussion on why embracing the ZW concept will be beneficial for the circular economy (CE).
Providing a strategic zero-waste framework and an evaluation tool to measure waste management performance aimed towards ZW goals, this book will be of great relevance to students, scholars, and policymakers with an interest in waste management, sustainable consumption, urban planning, and sustainable development.
About the Author: Atiq Zaman is a Lecturer at the School of Design and the Built Environment and an early carrier researcher at the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute, Curtin University, Australia. He has more than eight years of research experiences in the area of sustainable waste management and environmental assessment. He is an active advocate for ZW philosophy, activities, and practices. His research interests include sustainable waste management, collaborative consumption, circular economy, and sustainability in the built environment.
Tahmina Ahsan is a casual academic at the School of Design and the Built Environment, Curtin University, Australia. She is an architect with a master's in environmental engineering and sustainable infrastructure from KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; and a PhD degree from the University of Adelaide, Australia. She has a keen interest in sustainable practices and design.