Waste to Wealth: Entrepreneurial Strategies for Sustainable Waste Management
Asif, S., & Minz, N. K.
Waste is usually treated as a cost to be disposed of, yet it can also become raw material for new ventures. This paper takes that reframing seriously, asking how entrepreneurship can turn waste management from a pressing environmental and socioeconomic burden into a genuine source of value, livelihoods, and sustainable growth.
Through a review of the literature combined with case studies, the study surveys the main strategies by which discarded material is given a second life, among them circular economy models, waste-to-energy technologies, recycling, and upcycling. It then examines the part entrepreneurs play in driving these sustainable solutions, weighing how new ventures can foster economic growth and create employment while addressing environmental concerns, rather than treating commercial and ecological goals as opposed.
Rather than offering a single prescription, the paper draws the threads together into practical recommendations for businesses, aspiring entrepreneurs, and policymakers. Its contribution is to position waste-to-wealth thinking as a credible route to sustainable enterprise, where commercial opportunity and responsible resource use reinforce one another instead of pulling apart.
Waste management is reframed here as an entrepreneurial opportunity rather than a disposal problem. Through a review of literature and case studies, the paper examines circular economy models, waste-to-energy, recycling, and upcycling, and the role entrepreneurs play in turning sustainable solutions into economic growth, closing with recommendations for businesses, aspiring entrepreneurs, and policymakers.
- The paper treats waste as a potential source of value, exploring how entrepreneurial ventures can convert a pressing environmental and socioeconomic challenge into sustainable business opportunities rather than mere disposal cost to be absorbed.
- Through a review of literature and case studies, it surveys key strategies for giving discarded material a second life, among them circular economy models, waste-to-energy technologies, recycling, and upcycling.
- It analyses how entrepreneurship drives sustainable solutions, showing the ways new ventures can foster economic growth while simultaneously addressing pressing environmental concerns rather than trading one goal against the other.
- The paper concludes with practical recommendations for businesses, aspiring entrepreneurs, and policymakers hoping to harness waste-to-wealth approaches for more effective waste management and broader sustainable development overall.
Publication Details
Publisher
Journal of Management and EntrepreneurshipAuthor
Asif, S., & Minz, N. K.
Year
2024
Type
Journal
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