Integrated solid waste management: challenges, technologies, and sustainable solutions

Integrated Solid Waste Management represents a necessary shift away from single-technology, disposal-centric approaches toward a systems-level strategy that combines prevention, resource recovery, and environmentally sound disposal in proportions tailored to local conditions. The evidence reviewed in this study underscores that no single technology whether composting, anaerobic digestion, incineration, or landfilling is universally optimal; rather, sustainable outcomes depend on matching waste characteristics, financial capacity, and institutional strength to an appropriately integrated mix of solutions. Looking ahead, several trends are likely to shape the future trajectory of solid waste management. Climate policy is expected to place growing pressure on landfill methane emissions, accelerating investment in organic-waste diversion and landfill gas capture. Advances in chemical recycling and plastic-to-fuel pyrolysis technologies promise to expand the range of materials that can be recovered rather than discarded, addressing a fraction of the waste stream that has historically resisted conventional recycling. Digitalisation including AI-assisted sorting robots in MRFs, blockchain-based material traceability, and IoT-enabled fill-level sensors for collection optimisation is poised to substantially improve the efficiency and transparency of waste systems. Finally, the continued mainstreaming of extended producer responsibility and circular-economy policy frameworks is likely to shift greater responsibility upstream, toward product and packaging design, reducing the burden placed on downstream waste management infrastructure altogether. Realising this future will require sustained investment, supportive regulation, and perhaps most importantly active engagement of citizens as partners rather than passive recipients of waste management services.  

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