The World Population is growing in an enormous speed and the biggest part of this growth takes place in cities. Whereas in 2009 around 5 out of 10 people lived in a city, it will be 7 out of 10 by 2050. Cities are centers of resource consumption and follow a linear metabolism by consuming materials and resources and extracting waste and emissions. Facing the enormous growth that is forecasted for cities and the underlying patterns of consumption it becomes obvious that waste and emissions will proportionally increase with this development. Simultaneously to this development it becomes more and more profitable to extract resources from waste as non-renewable resources are facing scarcity.
Cities all over the world start initiatives to increase resource recovery, minimization and avoidance of waste, facing these two big developments. But how can a transition towards Zero Waste be done, as the waste system in our society is complex and also well-established which makes it more resistant to change.
The city of Aalborg in Denmark is approaching this challenge as Zero Waste developments are taking place in different domains in the city-area.
This thesis analyses how Aalborg moves its path towards Zero Waste and how such a transition can be made. To understand how this transition can be managed, transition theories are operationalized and applied to the case of Aalborg to further analyze potentials that could foster the development towards Zero Waste. The underlying research shows that Aalborg addresses mainly a technical approach and focuses very much on changing the structure in the waste system than concentrating more on the societal challenge that Zero Waste incorporates, however promising developments in Aalborg are on its way that can strengthen the transition towards Zero Waste.