Bibliometric Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Management Research: Global and South African Trends

Vhuthu Ndou and Isaac Tebogo Rampedi ()
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Vhuthu Ndou: Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa
Isaac Tebogo Rampedi: Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, Auckland Park Kingsway Campus, University of Johannesburg, P.O. Box 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg 2006, South Africa

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-21

Abstract: Municipal solid waste management has become one of the most important environmental management issues around the world. In this study, a bibliometric analysis of the literature related to municipal solid waste management from a global and South African perspective was performed using the software, VOSviewer. Relevant scientific literature was sourced from the Scopus database. Results showed that, globally, articles based on this topic started during the 1968–1969 period, whereas in South Africa such articles only appeared in 1996. The keyword analysis showed that most studies were related to waste-to-energy technologies, waste treatment, and other management aspects. Globally, emerging keywords representing new research areas were COVID 19-related waste streams, life-cycle assessments, and the role of municipal solid waste management in the circular economy. In contrast, South Africa’s prominent keywords were municipal solid waste, developing country, landfills, waste treatment, waste-to-energy technologies, pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and others. Based on these results, and possible solutions to reduce the amounts of MSW generation rates, recommendations are made to bring South African research on par with international trends.

Keywords: literature review; municipal solid waste management; South Africa; analysis; scopus database; VOSviewer; clusters; themes; collaboration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:16:p:10229-:d:890650

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