State of the art and scientific gaps on waste management: contribution of scientific literature for a more sustainable planet

Abstract

Waste generation is a natural consequence of urbanization, economic development and population growth. As nations and cities become more populous, they offer more products and services to citizens and participate in global trade and exchange, facing large amounts of waste to manage through treatment and disposal. Thus, with increasing waste generation mainly in low-income countries, inadequate waste management serves as a breeding ground for disease vectors, contributing to global climate change through methane generation and can promote urban violence such as the use of waste to block roads. Therefore, work that explores and encourages the implementation of proper waste management tools and practices offers an opportunity to contribute to sustainability in a global context. The aim of this paper is to map the state of the art of waste management publications and to identify the existing scientific gaps on the subject, which will serve as a guide for future studies contributing to the advancement of this field of knowledge. The research will be conducted from a bibliometric study and content analysis of the 30 most cited scientific articles of the last five years (2014 - 2018), plus the 2019 publications, related to waste management and available in Scopus and Web of Science databases. With the development of this research it is expected to map the state of the art on waste management, identify the main gaps to be filled and analyze the most relevant research trends. From the results obtained, we intend to submit articles to journals and congresses, as well as to hold a seminar to be presented to the university community of the Faculty of Engineering of Guaratinguetá and the Paraíba Valley. (AU)