7. Sustainable Rural Community

Rural communities in developing countries are confronted with many environmental issues. The poor management of agricultural waste, municipal solid waste, and wastewater has placed relentless pressure on the environment of rural communities. These environmental issues facing rural communities are causing economic deterioration and are threatening the health and well-being of people. Waste has always been considered an undesirable by-product that needs to be eliminated. The environmental hazards associated with dumping waste, as an easy and cheap way of disposal, cannot be ignored. To achieve sustainable development, waste should be treated as a useful by-product. International organizations are currently making great effort addressing economic and environmental issues in a sustainable manner. However, very few studies have been conducted to utilize the waste generated in rural areas to produce useful goods. Since the emergence of the concept of sustainable development many efforts have been made to reach zero pollution. Several concepts including the cradle-to-cradle approach and industrial ecology have been developed to move from linear system to cyclical flow of material thus addressing natural resource depletion other environmental. This chapter presents the application of scientific ecological knowledge to fully utilize all types of wastes generated in rural communities to produce useful goods to approach zero pollution and promote sustainable rural communities.