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Plastic Packaging Waste Management in Iceland: Challenges and Opportunities from a Life Cycle Assessment Perspective
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This study analyzes Iceland's plastic packaging waste management system, mapping current infrastructure, regulatory gaps, and material flows to identify key barriers to improvement. The authors highlight challenges such as limited domestic recycling capacity and geographic isolation, while also pointing to opportunities including extended producer responsibility frameworks and increased public engagement. The findings provide a roadmap for Iceland to align its waste management practices with broader EU circular economy goals.
The management of plastic packaging waste is advancing quickly, and new strategies are being implemented worldwide for better resource recovery. To assess the environmental benefits of new ways of handling plastic packaging waste, we need to first evaluate current waste management options in order to create a basis for comparison. In this study, the environmental impacts of plastic packaging waste handling are assessed for the first time in Iceland using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The results show that mechanical recycling, despite including the impacts of exporting the waste to different European countries, has more environmental benefits than landfilling the waste in Iceland. Increasing the recycling rates of plastic waste in Iceland is also identified as a promising option from a resource efficiency perspective. With better waste sorting, Iceland can become more environmentally sustainable, ensuring that plastic materials land in recycling processes, and thereby enhancing the flow of material in the circular economy.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.