ABSTRACT
A sustainable SWM approach is systematic, flexible and long term visionary. A sustainable society requires sophisticated ways to manage solid waste. A systems approach that reveals the relationships and explains its interactions among the parties in the system contributes to greater sustainable practice [8]. Based on reviewing and comparing different researchers’ work on the waste management, our research aims to propose a research framework of zero-waste management and strategies for low carbon residential precincts. This approach selected needs to accommodate the fact that zero waste management can be achieved by identifying the leverage points during the entire zero waste chain and altering or redesigning the processes accordingly. Kytzia and Nathani believe a “combination between analyses of economic/ physical structures on the one hand and economic behaviour on the other hand is most promising” to achieve the zero waste concept [9]. The methodological framework presented will contributes to the understanding of the overall process of the zero waste management by combining system characteristics as well as the cost/ benefit impact with the attitudes and requirements of a specific stakeholder group (i.e., the city planner, government, and/or households). This paper highlights the dynamic interrelationships of the sustainable SWM practices, supplemented with the cost/benefit factors into the SD process. The system-oriented research framework serves the decisionmakers to draw the forward-looking and preventative insights and reach a scientific understanding of the carbon and cost consequences relating to various sustainable SWM scenarios.
