Public Policy and Sustainable Waste Management: The Concept of Waste in Islam in Relation to Sustainability

2. Literature Review

This section reviews existing literature surrounding the conventional understanding of sustainability, waste management and governance of waste management. There exist the memorable definitions of sustainability throughout many disciplines that are somewhat similar yet distinct, and there are also the other less popular yet significant definitions of sustainability derived from other paradigms of knowledge. Among the most prominent definitions of sustainability found in literature searches are those pertaining to health and medical disciplines, such as the sustainability of health interventions; sustainable growth in the world of entrepreneurship; and the field of sustainable development, which is the scope of this chapter. Inconsistencies in the sustainability definition may endure even within a discipline (Moore et al., 2017). On the other hand, the definition reflected in the 1987 Brundtland Report was more frequently cited in publications on sustainable development (Johnston et al., 2007). This definition was revised in 2006 to add comprehensive coverage in its specifications, particularly as “a long-term vision for sustainability in which economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection go hand in hand and are mutually supporting” (EUR-Lex Glossary of Summaries, n.d.). The three pillars of sustainability (or more specifically, of sustainable development), namely the environmental, economic, and social aspects, appear to be the focus of the definitions given. Other similar definitions of sustainability are mentioned in the works of many (Morse et al., 2013; Office of Sustainability, n.d.), and these popular ‘definitions’ are construed in the sense that they are in the form of envisioned goals or anticipated outcomes of sustainability rather than definitions of sustainability in terms of its fundamental actuality. Meanwhile, there are many who reject the search for an objective and conceptual definition of sustainability in favour of a more Panglossian approach that suggests development in the absence of a universal definition (Owens, 2003).