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Industry Self-Regulation And Government: A Study Of A Hybrid Regulatory Model To Realize The Circular Economy, Hadi Chapardar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Government often imposes social and environmental regulation on business to protect public interests. Alternatively, firms may collectively and voluntarily take on social and environmental responsibilities, which is frequently known as “industry self-regulation (ISR).” However, in the context of this qualitative study, neither of these two alternatives proved efficient.

I study the management of the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) programs in Ontario, in which post-consumer household materials such as residual paint and dry cell batteries were collected and managed. According to the concept of the circular economy, preventing and/or re-entering waste into the product stream is key to solving …

Photovoltaic Waste Management And Implementing Extended Producer Responsibility In The Solar Industry In California, Lee-Tan Lu

Master's Theses

Electronic waste issues impact humans and the environment, primarily because most industrial designs have not considered the impact of products when they reach their end-of-life (EOL) stage. This study focuses on photovoltaic (PV) modules that are widely installed in California residential properties. While PV modules do not generate waste while operating, they will become waste at the end of their expected lifespan of 25 to 40 years. Thus, it is important to identify PV waste management strategies before the materials in the modules become a discard problem. In California, despite hazardous materials that are used in the production of PV …

Transforming A Circular Economy Into A Helical Economy For Advancing Sustainable Manufacturing, Ryan T. Bradley

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical Engineering

The U.N. projects the world population to reach nearly 10 billion people by 2050, which will cause demand for manufactured goods to reach unforeseen levels. In order for us to produce the goods to support an equitable future, the methods in which we manufacture those goods must radically change. The emerging Circular Economy (CE) concept for production systems has promised to drastically increase economic/business value by significantly reducing the world’s resource consumption and negative environmental impacts. However, CE is inherently limited because of its emphasis on recycling and reuse of materials. CE does not address the holistic changes needed across …

Leadership Strategies For Reducing Operational Costs In Waste Management Businesses In Liberia, Rita Evelyn Townsend

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Waste is a global composite of organic and inorganic derivatives from human activities. Municipal solid waste consists primarily of plastics from households and e-wastes, creating opportunities for waste management businesses. The purpose of this study was to explore leadership strategies for reducing operational costs in waste management businesses in Liberia. In this multiple case study, 6 business leaders from 6 waste management businesses in Liberia were recruited as participants. The conceptual framework guiding the study was the transformational leadership theory. Each business leader responded to open-ended questions in a semistructured interview. Data were analyzed by iteratively searching recurrent codes to …