Dear Colleagues,

Waste management is among the key issues for reaching sustainable development and circular economy, nowadays. Wastes have a tremendous impact on the environment and their proper management is of paramount importance in preserving the environment. Thus their impact on climate change is very high. Science and engineering have spent millions of hours on investigating the methods to improve the waste management methods and mitigate their impact on the environment. Thousands of papers have proved the importance of proper waste management and recycling on protecting the environment and reduce the climate change impact, providing the benefits of established and innovative methods. This special issue is focused in the societal and economic aspects of waste management. The role of societies is critical in achieving the sustainable development and mitigating the climate changes associated with waste generation. The economics associated with waste management are also playing an important role, as the formal and informal sector are providing millions of jobs globally, affecting the local and regional economies and societies. The economics and societal challenges and aspects of waste management are getting more and more attention as the technologies are now mature and established providing proven and secure methods in waste management that can be applied globally. The societal and economic aspects are quite critical in many countries that are not using yet the established methods, proving that the technological solutions are the one side of the effort on sustainable waste management. The goal of this special issue is to investigate the societal and economic aspects of waste management. The societal and economics play an extremely important parameter that affects decision making and technological solutions selection, so their role in achieving sustainability in 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. So submissions related to societal and economic aspects, as well as case studies are more than welcome in this special issue.

Prof. Constantinos S. Psomopoulos
Guest Editor

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• Waste management and societal aspects
• waste management and economic aspects
• developing societies and waste management
• developed societies and waste management
• poverty and waste management
• unofficial waste collection and recycling
• Not-in-my-backyard syndrome
• Societal challenges of waste management
• circular economy and society
• sustainable societies and waste management.