Systems Thinking and Solid Waste Management in Puerto Rico: Feedback Loops over Time

Amanda Brinton (), Timothy G. Townsend, David C. Diehl, Katherine Deliz Quiñones and Mark M. Lichtenstein
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Amanda Brinton: School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6450, USA
Timothy G. Townsend: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6450, USA
David C. Diehl: Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6450, USA
Katherine Deliz Quiñones: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-6450, USA
Mark M. Lichtenstein: SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF), Syracuse, NY 13210, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-19

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.

Keywords: systems thinking; history; solid waste management; Puerto Rico; feedback loops; stakeholder dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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