Establishing the interactions between the Sustainable Development Goals and biowaste valorization: Insights from the Swedish context

Abstract: Biowaste Valorization (BV) includes practices that capture the value of biowaste through its conversion to high-value products. BV practices can influence the progress of various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) differently. BV can have several potential interactions with the SDGs (BV-SDGs interactions) that may take the form of either synergies or trade-offs. Therefore, the identification of BV-SDGs interactions is key to the successful achievement of SDGs. Sweden is a country at an advanced stage of BV implementation and can thus offer valuable insights. Through semi-structured interviews, relevant stakeholders evaluated the impact of BV on 15 selected SDGs targets in Sweden thus far. Both positive and negative effects were found, but synergies outnumbered the trade-offs with BV positively contributing to all 15 targets. However, this study also shows some potential trade-offs that require further investigation. The findings highlight the need for multidisciplinary collaboration to address BV-SDGs interactions comprehensively. The evidence provided in this study can inform the scientific community as well as other types of stakeholders towards better BV planning. The insights from the Swedish case can be valuable to Sweden and other countries in different stages in the transition to BV and a wider Circular Economy (CE).