The Greening of Economy and Green Technologies for Waste: a tough path to sustainability

The greening of the economy is the new term associated with sustainable development, especially after the Rio +20 Conference. Guiding templates in the green economy, as the purpose of this article relates to one of the key sectors of this, the technologies employed for recycling and reuse of solid waste. The methodological procedures are exploratory, bibliographic and documentary research, and consist mainly in systematizing and interpreting the use of different technologies to treat the waste in the contemporary world. The main conclusions of the analysis are: (1) The challenges for the management of solid waste refer to the use of green technologies by the weakest link in the supply chain or the pickers of the recyclable materials; (2) Green technologies are identified by the highest and lowest cost procedures; (3) Technological processes have limitations, so you can not underestimate or overestimate their potential; (4) The techniques of recycling and reuse of solid waste need to be rethought in an inclusive manner. Keywords: Sustainable Development; Green Economy; Green Technologies; Solid Waste