Advances in Industrial Waste Reduction

Dear Colleagues,

Industry is an integral part of the economic activity of any country. It may be divided mainly into primary and secondary, where there is also the tertiary sector focusing on services and intellectual services industry. The primary sector is concerned with the extraction of raw materials. It includes fishing, farming, forestry, minerals extraction, and mining. These activities produce large amounts of waste, with a high environmental impact. Their impact also depends on the economic status of the country in which the infrastructures are operating. The secondary sector of the economy includes industries that produce a finished, usable product, or are involved in construction. This sector, generally, takes the output of the primary sector and manufactures finished goods that are suitable for use by other businesses, for export, or sale to domestic consumers. This sector is often divided into light and heavy industry. Many of these industries consume large quantities of energy, and require factories and machinery to convert raw materials into goods and products. They also produce waste materials and waste heat that may cause environmental problems or pollution. The secondary sector supports both the primary and tertiary sector.

Industrial wastes are produced by industrial activity, which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process, such as that of factories, industries, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and gravel, masonry and concrete, scrap metal, oil, solvents, chemicals, scrap lumber, and even vegetable matter from restaurants. Industrial waste may be solid, liquid, or gaseous. It may be hazardous or non-hazardous waste. Hazardous waste may be toxic, ignitable, corrosive, reactive, or radioactive. Industrial waste may pollute the air, soil, or nearby water sources, eventually ending up in the sea. Industrial waste is often mixed into municipal waste, making accurate assessments difficult. An estimate for the United States reaches as high as 7.6 billion tons of industrial waste produced every year. Most countries have enacted legislation to deal with the problem of industrial waste, but strictness and compliance regimes vary. Enforcement is always an issue. Industrial wastes are growing in numbers as the industry expands and new horizons are created. Thus, nowadays, industrial waste management is one of the key issues for reaching sustainable development and a circular economy. They have a tremendous impact on the environment, and their proper management is of paramount importance for preserving the environment. Thus, their impact on climate change is very high.

Science and engineering have spent millions of hours on investigating the methods for improving waste management methods and mitigating their impact on the environment. Thousands of papers have proven the importance of proper industrial waste management and recycling towards protecting the environment and reducing the impact of climate change, providing the benefits of established and innovative methods. This Special Issue is focused on presenting new views and approaches for established methods, as well as presenting new breakthrough approaches in waste management towards a circular economy and a sustainable production/consumption approach. Under this context, the management and reduction of industrial waste must be examined under the United Nations’ Sustainability Goals and the circular economy. Thus, their impact on the economy and society are also important, and this Special Issue will welcome such manuscripts. The scope and the goal of this Special Issue is to investigate, in addition to the core issues of advanced industrial waste management technologies, the alternative approaches arising towards their reduction through sustainable, life-cycle, circularity, and waste as resource approaches towards their reduction and minimisation. With reference to the water, the Special Issue is focused both on the problem of water contamination and on water waste. Societal and economic challenges are an extremely important parameter that affects decision making and technological solutions selection, so their role in achieving sustainability for industrial waste management is crucial. Stakeholders, technology experts, and decision makers have to prove their choices, going beyond the obvious benefits addressed by technology, as the local and regional communities are the ones that fight against one or another technology, and present the NIMBY phenomenon. Thus, submissions related to these aspects, as well as case studies, are more than welcome in this Special Issue.

Prof. Constantinos S. Psomopoulos
Prof. Athanasios Kungolos
Prof. Armando Di Nardo
Guest Editors

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