Sustainability for Waste Management & Research- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theSustainability for Waste Management Research. Answer: A system is a set of various parts that are interrelated with each other so that they can work towards achieving a common goal. In this essay the use of system thinking to develop solutions to achieve sustainability challenges is to be evaluated. Various arguments related to system thinking whether favorable or not while dealing with the present wicked problem is to be critically analyzed. System thinking generally focuses on the interrelationship between the individual parts and creating solutions for these problems. The problem of household food waste management is to be discussed by applicability of system thinking. In the current times both the developed and underdeveloped countries are facing the problem of food waste management from the household sector. Proper household food waste management is considered to be as a wicked problem in Australia. As per Eilam and Reisfeld (2017) system thinking is concluded to be a time consuming process and is very difficult to understand. In the recent times, system thinking approach is highly significant in dealing with the problems related to sustainability. As per Chunlin and Chan (2015) system thinking has been used by many researchers and academicians. There is a slight difference between the system thinking approach and traditional thinking approach. The traditional thinking practices used to focus on the major problem area while the system thinking approach lays major emphasis on inter relationship among the various constituents of the system. In the era of globalization, the world is going to face various problems and complexities. As suggested by () the complex or wicked problems can only be solved through system thinking. System thinking is a holistic approach and is interrelated with the systems constituent parts. Wicked problem Household food waste is one of the wicked problems faced by Australia. According to Rittel and Webber (1975) it is estimated that between 30 to 50% of the total food produced by the country is wasted. In Australia, maximum food waste is sent to landfill that represent an ineffective use of the existing scarce resources. The major environmental problem associated with this is generation of various greenhouses gases. Maximum amount of waste that is generated by the greenhouse gases is measured by the government. However, only that amount of food waste is ascertained by the government, which is disposed through the organized waste treatment procedure. As per Bing et al. (2015), the informal disposal of solid waste and domestic foods are taken in various forms. In Australia, the waste is disposed via waste disposal systems in a formal manner. Through system thinking, it would be possible to disposed of the household food waste in a more systematic and formal manner. According to Schott and Andersson (2015) more importance should be given on the agriculture and food systems to tackle the sustainability issue. The procedure underlying social, economic and environmental sustainability would be deriving from system thinking of the global food system. As per Thi, Kumar and Lin (2015) system thinking on the other hand would not be helpful in ascertaining the vital trade-offs that leads to increase in the accompanied food chain. In Australia the problem related to the food waste management is significant. Moreover, on an average it is also estimated that the Australia produces sufficient fresh foods so that the 60 million people can be fed on a daily basis. On the other hand, the country also spends more than 7.5 million tons of food that is suitable for the human consumption. In Australia recently the cost of food waste has significantly risen from $ 5.2 billion to $8 billion from the year 2009 to 2014. Moreover, in Australia, the food wastes also occur predominantly at both the retail and consumer levels. At an annual level, $616 worth of food is wasted from the household sector. As mentioned by Higgins (2014) the three pillar models of sustainability are social, economical and environmental. The most commonly used model for sustainable development is the three pillars model. As per, the model was previously known to be the acute pillars. The social aspect of the sustainability model mostly focuses on balancing the needs of the people with the group interest. For household food waste management, the social initiatives mostly involves market specific training programs for sustainable agriculture and food management, the second pillar is environmental sustainability, this is obtained when systems, activities and processes reduces the environmental impact. Proper food waste management through effective operations and facilities would lead to create a sustainable environment. The economic pillar is the third pillar of sustainability. This is used to encourage the strategies that are used in promoting the application of socio-economic resources to achieve maximum benefits. The three pillars model also known as the prism model comprises of major set of interlinked components. According to Teirlinck (2015) economic sustainability mainly involves to make sure that country makes maximum profit without creating any environmental or social issues within the organization. System thinking would help in building sustainable food system that would aim to redirect the policies and food system related to better adjusted goals and improved societal welfare. The sustainability for household food waste management is necessary to support positive transformation within the society. System thinking approach helps in dealing with the sustainability challenges. As per Garlapati (2016) problems that have turned more complex in the recent rimes can only be solved with the help of system thinking. The wide perspectives related to the system thinking can solve all the complex factors, which is dependent on the external factors. Household food waste management is an emergent problem that is continuously changing. Solving the complex problem can be achieved only through system thinking. This can be solved through analytical tools and methods. As per Salemdeeb et al. (2017) system dynamic is an effective approach to model system which is emphasized their feedback loops. Food wastes have vital implications on the community at various levels. This directly impacts the society on various levels. It also creates a direct impact on the condition of environment and is the cause of the climatic change. When the food wastes collected from the households is sent to landfills for decomposition, methane gas is emitted that traps the heat present in the atmosphere. The gas is produced at 25 times higher rate than that of carbon dioxide. As mentioned by Abeliotis, Lasaridi and Chroni (2014)14% of the total emissions of carbon dioxide in the world are caused due to household food wastes. Moreover, foods that are left to rot within the landfills also create a negative impact on land biodiversity around the landfills. This leads to pollute all the groundwater and waterways thus degrading the quality of environment. There are major six steps related to the system thinking that could be applied to solve all kinds of complex problems (GoodMan and Karash 1995). The first step involves in solving the problem includes is to understand the main problem area, which is achieved by looking deeply at the overall system instead of the individual parts. The major steps requires meeting with the stakeholders sharing the vision about the situation with the help of concept maps. It is important to tell the story as the starting point of system thinking analysis includes thinking about the problem besides acting on it. The next step includes drawing behavior over time graphs as it would link the present to the past and thus would lead to move from seeing events to recognizing patterns over time (Chunlin and Chan 2015). The third step includes creating a focusing statement, at this point a statement would be created to help in analyzing the rest of procedures. This step is followed by identifying the structure and the system archetype is an effective way to ascertain and build a theory of how and why things are happening. The fifth step includes going deeper into the underlying issues so that a proper action can be implemented by the management. Finally, planning an intervention is important to acknowledge the system so that a solution can be designed that would help in designing a solution for producing the desirable solutions. The most significant intervention that involves is changing the thinking process of people that are involved in the system. Planning an intervention should be consistent wit h the structure. The iceberg model is another system thinking tool that should be designed to help any group are individual. This helps in discovering the behavior patterns, models and supporting structures that is related to a particular event. As per Maani and Cavana (2007) Iceberg model is most frequently used by the management to explain the system thinking methodology. The iceberg model is divided into four parts mental models, structure, pattern or trends and events. Each level of the iceberg model offers a deeper and clear understanding of the system. On the other hand as per Abeliotis, Lasaridi and Chroni (2014) it is not necessary to have a clear or deep understanding of the system theory to influence the behavior of the people. this model mostly tries to explain that any sort of problem is too deep and is hidden beneath the covers. As per Bing et al. (2015) system thinking is a powerful and useful to obtain a world view and produce new perspectives. The solutions to the wicked problem of household food waste management are generated at each lower level and also tend to be more innovative and have a major substantial impact. The mental model level is the most powerful level that provides the basic solution for household food waste management that is to be created and is quite hard to implement. Whereas, as mentioned by, the major challenges in this model related to system thinking is that choosing appropriate responses at all the adequate levels? Sometimes identifying new patterns or events can also lead to change the entire structure for the system thinking of the wicked problem. In Australia, wastes can be generally disposed by proper waste disposal system. Through system thinking the local government can establish waste disposal system through alternate routes. Majority of household food wastes is disposed through kerbiside local government by proper treatment and collection. The waste collected is treated by land filling and municipal composting. The existing municipal composting in the country encourages households for proper waste management. The household food wastes are distributed in appropriate municipal beans especially in green organic bins, which include food wastes. The wastes than is further transformed to the various composting facility and landfills. However as per Maani and Cavana (2007) there are no standards related to the practice for food waste collection. Food waste is recently an international phenomenon that has affected all the countries globally. Majority of household food wastes produced in Australia occurs reportedly on the later phase of food supply chain. System thinking helps in evaluating the current scenario in a clearer manner. It can be concluded that Australia should prepare itself for the current rise in the increase in the food demand. The overall households food wastes produced by the country are approximately around 7.5 millions tones of food each year. The nation cannot continue to waste the food resources in the recent years. The efforts related to reduce the food wastes is also an environmental imperative. Therefore system thinking is beneficial for sustainability and offers sustainable alternative to maximize the production of food wastes. References: Abeliotis, K., Lasaridi, K. and Chroni, C., 2014. 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