Transforming sorted and performance of waste recovery companies: Circular Economy, Sustainability Technology and SDGs

Waste management is now a major global concern. Therefore, the circular economy (CE) and sustainable technology have become the necessary means of achieving sustainable business development. In this study, we conduct an analysis of the waste recovery sector in Spain to determine whether the most innovative and socially aware companies complied with sustainable development goal (SDG) 5 (gender equality) and SDG 8 (decent work and growth) during the period 2019–2021 (pre-Coronavirus Disease 2019, (pre-COVID-19), during COVID-19, and post-COVID-19). To this end, based on factors comprising economic and financial variables, the companies were grouped via a cluster analysis using the k-means method; they were linked to the SDGs (5 and 8) in order to determine the compliance of this sector. The results indicate that the technological transformations carried out by the waste valorization companies were reflected in their financial performance, with an increase in revenues of 61 % between 2019 and 2021; all clusters complied with SDG 8. However, despite promoting business transformation, social change, sustainable technology, and CE, these companies are far from compliant with SDG 5; indeed, a setback in social development was observed, with a significant decline in the number of women in positions of power after COVID-19. This therefore constitutes one of the greatest challenges for companies in this sector.