A systematic approach toward waste management: Problem-oriented Innovation System (PIS)

The production of waste and the concerns about their ecological and environmental damages are among the grand challenges societies have faced. Therefore, policymakers should highlight effective waste management as one of the pillars of sustainable development. However, the previous frameworks for managing the waste problem have been mainly unsystematic as they neglected the social aspects of the problem in analysing technology development and innovation. Therefore, in this article, the status-quo of Tehran’s waste problem (as a case study) was analysed with the new approach of ‘Problem-oriented Innovation System (PIS),’ and policy recommendations are presented accordingly. The research methodology is content analysis of related documents and reports based on a 5-step process. Findings indicate that the weak performance of Tehran’s solid waste management originates at the beginning of the waste management cycle and the weak functions of public awareness, standardisation, market formation, and system monitoring guidance. Accordingly, the unstable patterns of industrial production and social behaviour lead to the supply of a large amount of unnecessary and uneconomical waste, and the system’s actors are incapable of guiding the system and standardising to change the patterns.