Waste Management on Islands

Abstract: In the last three decades insular areas are in continuous research because their unique characteristics indicate them as “ideal laboratories” for the application of different systems. Waste management systems in particular, are considered to be among the most intriguing of issues, because of insular specificities, such as remoteness, level of insularity (possibility of double or multiple insularity), and the social and economic aspects that are related to seasonality. The main objective of this research is to identify and suggest potential changes at both municipal (Municipality of Naxos and Small Cyclades in Greece) and European level that would facilitate the transition to more sustainable waste management practices on the islands. An examination of waste management practices in selected insular municipalities in Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Malta and Croatia are used as input for the analysis of system changes in the main case study of Naxos and Small Cyclades municipality. The use of a framework built on the three pillars of sustainable development as a basic approach helped to bring together the approach for integrated solid waste management and the principles of waste hierarchy in terms of high level of resilience in order to reach long-term sustainability. The analysis and the structure of the research is based on methodological steps that focus on the identification of existing waste management practices and policy implications that are related to environmental, social and economic aspects. The main findings are related not only to potential lock-in effects or system dynamics, such as fluctuation of population and waste generated due to tourism, but also to lack of trust to the system and authorities, lack of cooperation between the relevant stakeholders and the difficulty of generalisation of waste management practices. The main findings point to the fact that there is a need of changing paradigms towards a bottom-up hierarchy that will be based in cooperation that would secure the social cohesion and active participation.