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A critical review on plastic waste administration

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 2023 3 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count.
Ananya Kalita, Ankur Pan Saikia, Sunandan Baruah

Summary

This critical review examines why existing plastic waste management approaches—landfilling, recycling, and incineration—continue to fall short, identifying financial barriers, lack of expertise, and inadequate public engagement as core obstacles, and calling for more sustainable, less hazardous alternatives that include economic incentives to drive mass participation.

Abstract The management of plastic waste through various methods such as landfilling, recycling, and incineration has several inherent shortcomings, such as a lack of resources, preparation, motivation, financial power, and expertise. Additionally, these methods are unable to handle the quantity and types of plastic waste, nor do they increase the public's interest in plastic waste management practices. According to research, environmental, economic, and social factors are the main drivers for reducing plastic waste. Experts from around the world have identified four significant areas of concern for which solutions have been proposed: methods of plastic waste reduction and management, the amount of plastic waste, the quality of waste/plastic, and awareness of plastic waste management/cost of plastic waste management. However, individual solutions proposed for these key areas of concern are facing several challenges, leading to delays in their adoption or less popularity globally. The review has identified the reasons for the less popularity of existing plastic waste management methods, which are less environmentally friendly and have a complex process, hence requiring serious reconsideration from technocrats and researchers to develop more sustainable and efficient procedures that do not produce more hazardous by‐products. This study also found that financial incentives are one of the main drivers to ensure the mass participation of lower and working‐class people.

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