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Accelerating Plastic Circularity: A Critical Assessment of the Pathways and Processes to Circular Plastics
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A critical assessment of plastic circularity pathways found that today only 9% of global plastic waste is recycled, with current circularity routes economically unviable, and argues that improving product design and collection and sorting system effectiveness are the most impactful levers for progress.
Achieving plastic circularity is imperative to using plastics without adverse effects. Today, only 9% of global plastic waste is recycled, signifying the need for more substantial advancements to accelerate our progress toward achieving plastic circularity. This article contributes to our collective efforts to accelerate plastic circularity by critically assessing the state-of-the-art, gaps, and outlook of the pathways and processes to circular plastics. It employs qualitative methods to derive new insights that empower scholars and practitioners to prescribe effective strategies to shape the future of plastic circularity and its research agenda. This article concludes that today’s circularity pathways for plastics are not economically viable, significantly hindering their scalability and widespread adoption. It further validates that focusing on the product design and effectiveness of the available collection and sorting systems can considerably improve our progress in achieving plastic circularity.
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This paper reviews the global plastic pollution problem, noting that only 9% of plastic waste was recycled in 2019 out of 353 million tonnes generated. It identifies ongoing gaps in waste collection, recycling, microplastics and regulation, and proposes a conceptual framework for prevention and lifecycle management rather than new software or tools.
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Researchers assessed global plastic waste management performance within a zero-waste-to-landfill framework, finding that the linear economy model driving plastic production has outpaced collection and recycling infrastructure, leaving significant contamination across all environmental compartments even in regions with market access.
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This review examines the impacts of plastic pollution on ecosystem services and sustainable development goals across terrestrial and aquatic environments. The study highlights that only about 9% of global plastic production is recycled, and recommends circular economy approaches, life cycle assessments, and stronger policy interventions to address the growing plastic waste crisis.
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Researchers analyzed the full plastic packaging value chain to identify barriers and enablers for transitioning to a circular economy, tracing the evolution of circular economy concepts and quantifying the environmental impacts associated with exponential plastic waste growth. The study provides an integrated framework mapping opportunities for intervention across production, use, collection, and recycling stages.
Global Material Flow of Macro‐ and Microplastics to Support a Circular Economy
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.