Management Strategies for Plastic Wastes: A Roadmap Toward Circular Economy and Environmental Sustainability

Plastic waste (PW) generated globally is not only complex and massive but also dispersible in its macro state by agents such as wind and water, and it is capable of denudation, resulting in microplastics. PW management systems have explored some treatment methods that have limited the mass of derivable products, and polymers have lost their original properties, yet issues associated with the proliferation of PW persist. The management of postconsumption waste plastic (WP) to achieve a higher recycle to disposal ratio has now become a target in many nations that have previously experienced defects with the current methods of management, which are purely landfilling and incineration. On the contrary, developing economies are mostly in the planning and implementation stages of sustainable reduction strategies. Currently, PW management systems work better by recycling or reusing in the circular economy (CE), where waste is eliminated completely from the process and emissions are minimized. This chapter brings into retrospect sustainable WP management strategies such as recycling and reusing, chemical recycling, and mechanical recycling as roadmaps toward the attainment of CE. This chapter also highlights the merits of CE implementation as an environmentally sustainable strategy for minimizing WP.