Proceedings of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management Manila, Philippines, March 7-9, 2023
Figure 4. Plot depicting word dynamics in cumulative occurrences over the years
4.1.4 Thematic Evolution The plot on thematic evolution (Figure.5 below) tells us the gradual progression of literature discourse on sustainability in pulp and paper industry over the period of 26 years from 1996. The plot reveals that the progression of the themes of the articles could be bifurcated into two timelines according to the relevance of the topics of discourse, one from the beginning, i.e, 1996 to 2019 and the second from 2020 to 2022. The primary focus of the themes from 1996 to 2019 has been on topics such as ‘effluent treatment’ followed by ‘forest management’ and so on. The terms ‘Sustainable development’ and ‘waste management’ were not on top of the most discussed topics between 1996 and 2019. However, during the period from 2020 to 2022, ‘sustainable development’ was the most discussed topic followed by ‘paper and pulp industry’ and ‘waste management, in that order. On analysis of the plot on Thematic evolution, it can be construed that the prime theme of discussion between 1996 and 2019 on sustainability, circular economy, decarbonisation in paper and pulp industry was ‘effluent treatment’ followed by ‘forest management’. So, even though the theme on ‘sustainable development’ featured at later positions between 1996 to 2019, before occupying the position of most discussed themes from 2020 onwards, the essential discourse concerning paper and pulp industry has all throughout been around its unsustainable nature of business involving deforestation and waste generation. It is just that the terminology of ‘sustainable development’ and ‘waste management’ were used frequently, which by the way encompasses the concepts of deforestation and effluent generation as could be found out from the literature study. So, the thematic evolution plot indeed confirms the relevant issues plaguing paper and pulp industries.
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