Analyzing Household Waste Management Through System Thinking

This essay explores the application of system thinking to address the wicked problem of household waste management, particularly focusing on food waste in Australia. It emphasizes the importance of sustainability and the interconnectedness of ecological, cultural, economic, and political factors in waste management. The essay discusses how traditional waste disposal methods contribute to environmental issues like greenhouse gas emissions and soil pollution. It highlights the role of integrated solid waste management and the significance of public awareness and government policies in creating effective waste management systems. The analysis underscores the need for a participatory, adaptive approach to improve waste management practices and promote a learning system for continual improvement.

Running head: HOUSEHOLD WASTE MANAGEMENT
HOUSEHOLD WASTE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

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Sustainability is referred to the ability is to remain diverse and productive in the long-run.
The primary principle related to the process of sustainability is the main agenda for sustainable
development of the economy, which has various interrelated components that are mostly
ecology, culture, economics and politics (Eilam and Reisfeld 2017). There are various problems
that have confronted the reality of the society in the attainment of sustainability development.
These problems are referred by various scholars to be the wicked problems because they cannot
be clearly defined and have no such solutions, where the interest of stakeholders are optimal in
nature.
The wicked problems are therefore the set of unique difficulties that are regarded as the
major symptoms of other problems. It is important to create solutions for the sustainability
challenges as there is an urgent need in the society to change the conventional way of thinking
and improve the current scenario (Chunlin and Chan 2015). Through system thinking it is
possible to develop the required solutions for the present sustainability challenges.
System thinking is the inter-disciplinary framework that is used in visualizing the
relationship for knowing the desired patterns related to change (Bing et al. 2015). Though system
thinking is termed to be old concept and is often regarded as the new way of thinking to manage
and understand the current complex problems in both global and local manner. This method is
also used for the development planners to act towards the investigation of economic and socio-
environmental dimensions of sustainability.
The major significance of the study is to understand the crucial fact that no wicked
problem is caused in isolation but is a part of vast system of interconnected networks. Hence,
system thinking is very crucial in developing solutions for such kind of problems. The main
purpose is to evaluate the role and part of system thinking in a local and global sustainability
challenges.
One of the major wicked problems present in Australia is notably the household waste
management, which are primarily the food wastes. ‘System thinking is critical in developing
solution to sustainability challenges’ is completely true and I completely agree with the
statement. The approach outlines major systematic ways to address the existing issue. The major
purpose of household waste management strategies are to clearly address the environmental,
health, aesthetic, resources and all the economic concerns that are related with the ineffective or
improper waste disposal (Schott and Andersson 2015). Australia is one of the developed
economies and in the recent years the country is facing complex environmental problems than its
economic profit. The nation has high challenges for its increasing population that lays more
pressure for the services and shelters.
The most primary wicked problem is household waste that comprises of mostly food
wastes. The number of household waste has dramatically increased in Australia over the past few
years. The only way to dispose the way is by dumping it unless the waste or garbage is easily

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recycled. There are various problems that make the household or solid waste wicked. The
problems include attracting insects and rodents that harbor various diseases, pollute the soil, air
and water. Waste disposal and its treatment releases greenhouse gases, which effects the climate
globally (Thi, Kumar and Lin 2015). Though there are many agencies that encourages recycling
but the amount of food wastes created in the country outweighs the quantity of materials that is
recycled and used. The unsolved solid waste management issue is a great concern for its huge
complexity. The household waste management caused due to irregular settlement, uncontrolled
population, improper sewage and sanitary system, ineffective solid waste management and low
environmental awareness.
Household waste management is a wicked problem that can be solved by proper system
dynamic analysis, which lays major emphasis on model testing. Model testing analysis helps in
assessing the all the existing sub system. The subsystems such as quality of environment, waste
management and population settlement are evaluated. Household waste management is a critical
issue due to rise in global concerns of change in the consumption pattern and increased in
urbanization. The household waste management is driven by the major five principles elements
that are public health, resource scarcity, the environment, and climate change, value of waste and
public awareness (Teirlinck 2015). Government interest in the disposal of food wastes leads to
better disposal of waste management through proper enforcement, legislations and effective
investment in the infrastructure and solid waste management.
Public health legislation leads to drive waste management forward since the past few
years. The first priority for the waste management is to collect and eradicate all the wastes from
the vicinity of residential area (Garlapati 2016). After the removals of waste form the household
areas, the next priorities are shifted to the other aspects of waste management chains like the
proliferations of all the landfills. The environmental factor also helped in driving the waste
management. It is characterized by the measures such as retrofitting incinerators and compacting
of landfills for proper dust control. Waste hierarchy is an effective marketing strategy with
effective hierarchy of waste handlings techniques. This techniques helpful in prevention of
wastes from reduction, reuse, energy recovery, recycling, waste treatment like incineration and
ultimately the landfill disposal. The diversity of ethnic and social groups often exists between the
ethnic and social groups that exist in the rapidly expanding cities.
Public awareness and the people attitude towards food wastes can create a major impact
on the overall household waste management system. From the storage of household waste to its
separation, recycling, willingness to pay for the management services can effectively lead to the
successful waste management. Heating and cooking with the solid fuel affects the composition of
wastes by eliminating all such items like paper that results in adding hot, abrasive ashes to the
water streams. Ineffective architecture like unpaved floors and brick housing can lead to large
amount of soil and dust streams to enter in the waste stream. Moreover sanitary practices also
influences the amount of excreta disposed in the waste. The socio-economic status at the
household level also affects the composition of waste (Salemdeeb et al. 2017). Higher literacy

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further increases the quantity of paper content in the waste. In Australia, most of the people are
affluent and they often choose to completely discard the durable wastes rather than repairing
them.
Integrated solid waste management is the current household waste management paradigm
that is highly accepted throughout the developed economy (Abeliotis, Lasaridi and Chroni 2014).
The Integrated waste management practices focuses on the integration of various interrelated
entities and processes that develops the waste management system. This reduces the
environmental impacts and also drives the cost down the cost and the system is highly market
oriented and flexible in nature that leads to continual improvement.
System thinking thus is concerned with the system alterations that lead to complex
management systems. The wickedness of the problem can be dealt with the benefits of
developing ‘learning system’. Integrated household waste management system is a flexible and
market oriented approach that leads to continual improvement. The household waste
management systems are also tailored to the particular community goals through incorporating
stakeholder’s needs and perspectives. Rapidly increasing process of consumption and
urbanization completely overload the waste management system and thus results in negative
household waste management practices. Therefore, it can be concluded that system thinking
plays a major role in systematic household and solid waste management. It is highly crucial for
the country to adopt strongly participatory, adaptive system perspectives to develop real progress
in the waste management practices.

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