"Are we only the bin?" : a study of Malmö's transition towards a sustainable waste society

Abstract: Waste generation is rapidly increasing globally, estimating that 11 billion tonnes of solid waste is produced every year. Cities and urban areas generate large and concentrated waste flows due to the density and multitude of inhabitants. Both waste and how we choose to treat it creates negative impacts on natural, economic and societal systems, both globally and locally. Greenhouse gas emissions, natural resource depletion and technological lock-ins are only a few of many negative effects waste can cause. Malmö, Sweden’s third most populated city, is currently facing several waste challenges, such as increasing waste amounts due to rapid population growth and that incineration act as the main treatment process of municipal solid waste, preventing a circular material system and recycling of valuable resources. This thesis, using semi-structured interviews as well as a document review, investigate Malmö’s current strategic and practical work for achieving a transition towards a sustainable waste society; identifying gaps and challenges in Malmö’s current transition process; and lastly, explore potential future pathways to overcome these challenges and secure a continued transition process. Transition management has been used as an analytical framework to help understand the current waste situation in Malmö and to suggest potential future pathways for overcoming identified gaps and challenges. Several strategic and practical initiatives are currently in place in Malmö with the intention of climbing the waste hierarchy and promote a more sustainable waste situation. However, several gaps and challenges have been identified including lack of a clear collective transition vision, differentiating interpretation of waste goals and the waste hierarchy, unstable private-actor involvement and evaluation insecurity. Potential future pathways are development of a stronger multi-actor transition arena, implementing manufacturing requirements and using evaluation as a learning tool.