Publication Details
Abstract
Industrial waste management has come to be widely recognised as a prerequisite to any viable economy with the present conditions of widespread industrialisation. With the growth of industrialization in Uzbekistan, implementation of the Strategy of Uzbekistan – 2030 has changed the attitude towards waste disposal fate from a one-type more complex disposal and regenerated as a secondary resource. Nevertheless, there still exists a lag between the contemporary management practises and circular economy principles necessary for a “Green Economy” to be realised. In response, this research adopts a multi-method approach, using SWOT analysis and economic modeling to assess recycling efficiency in most economic sectors–industrial enterprises. We make an important contribution by introducing a unique efficiency function (Eres) that quantifies recycling by cost, volume of waste, and potentially implementable technology in order to better understand how much economic and resource saving potential is available from recycling. The report expects the recycling rate of industrial waste to increase from 21% in 2024 to 65% in 2030 and the recycling rate of landfill to fall to 35%. The Emissions Reduction Fund will trigger the transition to this ‘Zero Waste’ strategy, providing $350 million in economic savings and the possibility of expanding sector employment from 8,000 to more than 50,000 jobs. The research also found that industrial symbiosis, which is a practice that utilizes the waste of one enterprise as raw materials for others, could be applied to reduce the cost of industrial products by 10–15% and decrease imports of raw materials by 25%. Our results indicate that modernizing industrial waste infrastructure in Uzbekistan, where the high investments available are scarce, is economically viable in order to improve the overall attractiveness for investments.