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Recycling of Plastic Waste: A Systematic Review Using Bibliometric Analysis
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This systematic review uses bibliometric analysis to map trends in plastic recycling research across over 35,000 studies. Key emerging topics include biodegradable plastics, life cycle assessment, and electronic waste recycling. Better plastic recycling is one of the most important ways to reduce the flow of microplastics into our environment and ultimately our bodies.
Research into plastic recycling is rapidly increasing as ocean and land pollution and ecosystem degradation from plastic waste is becoming a serious concern. In this study, we conducted a systematic review on emerging research topics, which were selected from 35,519 studies on plastic recycling by bibliometrics analysis. Our results show that research on the biodegradability of plastics, bioplastics, life cycle assessment, recycling of electrical and electronic equipment waste, and the use of recycled plastics in construction has increased rapidly in recent years, particularly since 2016. Especially, biodegradability is the most emerging topic with the average year of publication being 2018. Our key finding is that many research area is led by developed countries, while the use of recycled plastics in the construction sector is being actively explored in developing countries. Based on our results, we discuss two types of recycling systems: responsible recycling in the country where plastic waste is generated and promoting recycling through the international division of labor between developed and developing countries. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and propose necessary measures for sustainable and responsible production and consumption of plastics such as waste traceability system and technology transfer between developed and developing countries.
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This bibliometric analysis maps the research landscape of microplastic biodegradation from 2012 to 2022, revealing a sharp increase in publications peaking around 2020-2021. Researchers identified key institutions and summarized the main biodegradation processes, including microbial degradation, photodegradation, and thermo-oxidative degradation of various plastic types. The study highlights that while biological approaches to breaking down microplastics show promise, significant gaps remain in understanding the complete degradation mechanisms.
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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.