Assessing the impacts of solid waste management in the context of corporate social responsibility and the circular economy

Growing solid waste generation creates public health and environmental challenges, highlighting the need for integrated waste management approaches that support a clean environment and society. This study assesses and develops a framework describing how solid waste management methods influence environmental sustainability and public health outcomes, while observing the role of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This study adopted a quantitative research design to evaluate the relations among solid waste management practices, environmental impacts, health outcomes, circular economy and CSR using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Data collection was completed through a structured questionnaire administered to 200 respondents. The questionnaire was developed based on the theoretical foundations of waste hierarchy, circular economy, and sustainable waste management. Considering the importance of the waste hierarchy and circular economy parameters, this study categorizes solid waste management as segregation, recycling, composting, and disposal methods. The analysis of the conducted study advocates the impact of the environment as an indicator to connect waste management practices and health outcomes. The results show that solid waste management methods meaningfully improve environmental sustainability when the strategies such as segregation, recycling, and composting are followed, as they contribute to current resource recovery and waste reduction. The finding further proposes that sustainable waste management aids to the quality of life and public health by reducing environmental hazards. Furthermore, it envisioned corporate social responsibility as a better tool to implement waste management approaches, with the enhanced stakeholder’s engagement and organizational responsibility. This study further elaborates to investigate sustainability by incorporating CSR, circular economy, waste hierarchy, public health, and environmental quality within an integrated analytical framework. The practical solutions are recommended to organizations and policymakers for developing and implementing sustainable waste governance.