Daily per capita waste generation will increase by 40% and 19%, for developing and developed countries by 2050, respectively. The World Bank estimates that total waste generation is going to triple in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and double in South Asia (SA) by 2050. This article conducts a rapid review and aims to demonstrate the current waste management scenario and the potential of waste to energy generation in the developing world, focusing on SSA and SA. Although many review articles related to waste to energy (WtE) in developing countries are available in the literature, a rapid review particularly focusing on countries in SSA and SA is rarely seen. An analysis of different WtE generation technologies, and current waste management practices in developing countries in SSA and SA are also presented. The analysis shows that about three-fourths of waste is openly dumped in developing countries of SSA and SA. In terms of waste composition, on average, about 48.70% and 51.16% of waste generated in developing economies of SSA and SA are organic. Opportunities to convert this waste into energy for developing countries are highlighted, with a case study of Bangladesh, a country in SA. Major challenges regarding the waste to energy (WtE) projects in the developing world are found to be the composition of waste, absence of waste separation scheme at source, ineffective waste collection method, lack of suitable WtE generation technology in place, lack of financial support and policies related to a WtE project, and absence of coordination between different governmental institutions.

Although demand-side management (DSM) needs to be more customer centred, either with or without smart technologies (e.g. smart grid), less attention has been paid to the developing world in relation to DSM strategy development. The main reasons have been lack of appropriate technology and capital costs. Importantly, there are alternative DSM strategies that require minimum or no cost to implement and provide immediate results, of which energy-saving behaviour of the occupants at residences is one. This study explores the potentiality of this energy-saving behaviour as a DSM strategy for the least developed economies, focusing particularly on Bangladesh. The literature suggests that energy-saving behaviour could reduce energy demand by a maximum of 21.9%. However, this potential DSM scheme seems underestimated in the national DSM programme of Bangladesh. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Master Plan (EECMP) of Bangladesh (a DSM program) shows that efficiency improvement in the use of home appliances could reduce electricity demand in the residential sector by about 28.8%, but this does require a long time to be implemented, whereas the inclusion of energy-saving behaviour as a demand response strategy in residences along with the EECMP might achieve demand reduction of up to 50.7%. Although the findings from this study are specific to Bangladesh, these could be useful guidelines for the policymakers of other developing nations where national DSM strategy development is underway.