This dissertation investigates the adoption of blockchain technology in waste management, with particular attention to Less Developed Countries (LDCs), where waste systems often face fragmented data infrastructures, weak institutional oversight, limited stakeholder participation, regulatory inconsistencies, and insufficient transparency in waste flows. These challenges reduce accountability, constrain coordination, and undermine the effectiveness and sustainability of waste management practices. In response, the study examines how blockchain can enhance governance, transparency, coordination, and sustainability in waste management systems, while also identifying the conditions that shape its adoption and practical effectiveness. The study is grounded in the observation that existing waste management systems frequently rely on fragmented and centralized reporting structures that weaken traceability, reduce trust, and hinder evidence-based decision-making. Although blockchain has been widely discussed as a promising technology because of its capacity for immutable record keeping, transparent transaction tracking, decentralized verification, and digital incentives, there remains a lack of empirically grounded conceptual models explaining how blockchain can be adopted effectively in waste management, particularly in institutionally constrained contexts. To address this gap, the dissertation develops a novel Blockchain-Enabled Waste Management Framework (B-WMF). The framework emphasizes governance-oriented variables, including tokenized incentive mechanisms, transparent waste tracking, decentralized verification, shared data infrastructures, waste sorting efficiency, financial viability, and regulatory compliance. Rather than focusing only on blockchain’s technical functions, this research positions blockchain as a governance infrastructure capable of improving accountability, coordination, and stakeholder trust across waste management ecosystems. 3 Methodologically, the study adopts an interpretivist stance and a qualitative multiple case study design. A systematic literature review was first conducted to identify the principal research challenges and theoretical gap. The proposed framework was then empirically examined through five case studies: ZeLoop, Circularise, B-Forge Academy/Permabilis, Plastic Bank, and the Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly (ASEMA). These cases provided evidence from diverse blockchain-enabled waste management contexts, including consumer-facing recycling systems, industrial traceability platforms, capacity-building initiatives, social enterprise models, and municipal governance environments. The findings confirm the conceptual relevance of the proposed framework while also revealing important contextual dependencies. Blockchain’s strongest contribution lies not simply in technological novelty, but in its capacity to enhance transparency, traceability, governance oversight, and institutional accountability. Transparent waste tracking and regulatory alignment emerged as the most consistently supported mechanisms across the cases. At the same time, the effectiveness of tokenized incentives, decentralized processes, sorting efficiency, and shared data infrastructures was found to depend heavily on institutional readiness, financial sustainability, public awareness, digital literacy, and governance capacity. Overall, the dissertation contributes to both theory and practice by advancing a governance-oriented understanding of blockchain adoption in waste management.
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