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Blockchain Technology for Sustainable Waste Management

Frontiers in Political Science 2020 56 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 35 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Phillip Taylor, Katrien Steenmans, Katrien Steenmans, Ine Steenmans

Summary

This paper examines how blockchain technology could improve transparency and traceability in waste management systems, helping ensure that materials are actually recycled rather than sent to landfill. Improved waste tracking is relevant to reducing the plastic waste that ultimately degrades into microplastics in the environment.

The global waste and resource crises necessitate and give great impetus for better and more sustainable management of waste. Increasingly, resource and waste streams that once were sent to landfill or incinerated are now reused, recycled, or recovered. Yet, while many laws and policies have been adopted for this very purpose, a number of recurrent challenges persist across interventions seeking to further facilitate the necessary, widespread transitions to sustainable waste management. This perspective article explores the suitability of blockchain technology in overcoming these challenges. In particular, we discuss the opportunities and challenges for blockchain in (1) offering clarity in property rights of products and wastes, (2) supporting law and policy goals by incentivizing sustainable waste management, and (3) maintaining anonymity and privacy for institutions and individuals.

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