The Role of Leadership and Collaboration in Innovative Changes in the Solid Waste Recycling Industry: Corporate and Regional Levels

Abstract

Transition to a circular economy and growing popularity of "green" behavior rising the question of how to bring relevant innovative changes to the solid waste recycling industry. Finding the right answer to this question becomes a priority in the different regions of the world. The best examples of innovative changes in this industry can be found in the theoretical sources, but their effective implementation in practice is sometimes a challenge due to poor management or low level of staff involvement. The aim of this article is to analyse and evaluate the influence of leadership and collaboration on the innovative processes and advanced economic and environmental performance of solid waste recycling enterprises. Primary and secondary data collection and analysis methods were used to provide the evidence for the research findings. The results show that motivated team with a professional leader can make a difference in the process of development and implementation of innovations allowing improving the efficiency and increasing the capacity of solid waste recycling industry. This difference include approach for setting up goals and using resources in the process of their achievement. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the disclosure of the specifics of various types of innovative changes in the solid waste recycling industry, as well as the impact of leadership and cooperation on innovative processes. Authors concluded that leadership and teambuilding skills should be a part of education and training in the solid waste recycling industry due to their significant influence on the industry success.