| Title |
Systems Thinking and Solid Waste Management in Puerto Rico: Feedback Loops over Time |
| ID_Doc |
26246 |
| Authors |
Brinton, A; Townsend, TG; Diehl, DC; Quiñones, KD; Lichtenstein, MM |
| Title |
Systems Thinking and Solid Waste Management in Puerto Rico: Feedback Loops over Time |
| Year |
2023 |
| Published |
Sustainability, 15, 5 |
| DOI |
10.3390/su15054648 |
| Abstract |
This article uses a systems-thinking framework to analyze Puerto Rico's solid waste system. Our findings were based on 36 semi-structured interviews from stakeholders that work within the solid waste system. Interviewees represented businesses, advocacy organizations, a university, and government agencies, including municipal, central, and federal government. This research is unique because it focuses on a case study using a historical lens to explore the policies and stakeholder dynamics that shape a system's behavior, where the behavior is in reference to the flows of discarded materials either entering the circular economy or the island's waste disposal facilities. Through our research, we found that Puerto Rico's overall solid waste system is stalled within a balancing feedback loop where policies and dynamics have taken place that have created resistance to efforts to improve the current situation. In our discussion, we reflect on the policies and stakeholder dynamics that have caused this balancing feedback loop and make recommendations to better support a reinforcing feedback loop that will lead to changes to achieve Puerto Rico's solid waste disposal and recycling plans and goals required to foster a circular economy. This study can inform future policy making and institutional coordination efforts within Puerto Rico and abroad. |
| Author Keywords |
systems thinking; history; solid waste management; Puerto Rico; feedback loops; stakeholder dynamics |
| Index Keywords |
Index Keywords |
| Document Type |
Other |
| Open Access |
Open Access |
| Source |
Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED); Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) |
| EID |
WOS:000947465400001 |
| WoS Category |
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology; Environmental Sciences; Environmental Studies |
| Research Area |
Science & Technology - Other Topics; Environmental Sciences & Ecology |
| PDF |
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