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Plastic waste management strategies: planning through sustainable lens and way forward towards circular economy
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Researchers reviewed plastic waste management strategies through a circular economy lens, assessing how transforming plastic waste into useful products — including construction materials, fuels, and raw inputs — can reduce environmental pollution while creating economic opportunities.
Plastics are a significant class of materials (made from crude oil and fossil fuels) used widely in the different facets of life. To reduce plastic waste pollution, it can be transformed into a variety of useful products. The waste entrepreneurs have used the plastic waste for various purposes to ensure its circular material management and circular Economy practices, such as constructing roads, manufacturing fuel, and turning waste into bio-oil. The economic value chain for circular materials management that reduces the pollution caused by plastic waste must be developed. This will help achieve UN SDG 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption) and establish a circular economy by 2030. The article is a comprehensive review that explores current practices for managing plastic waste, biological decomposition of plastic waste, and emerging technological developments that could help manage plastic waste in urban environments. It also examines the concept of bioplastics, which are synthesized from cellulose and have their origins in plants. Further, plastic waste management using cutting-edge technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain is on the rise. The current work provides in-depth discussions on several approaches that could be used to minimize and solve problems created by plastic waste globally.
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Researchers reviewed global plastic waste management strategies, examining the composition of plastic waste streams and comparing mechanical, chemical, and biological approaches to recycling and disposal, with the goal of identifying pathways toward more sustainable and circular plastic use across packaging, consumer goods, and industrial sectors.
Plastic waste management during and post Covid19 pandemic: Challenges and strategies towards circular economy
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This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic worsened plastic waste management by driving up PPE use and making virgin plastics cheaper than recycled alternatives, with 40% of plastic waste ending up in landfills globally. Researchers propose circular economy strategies—including feedstock recycling and waste valorization into fuels and building materials—to address the mounting crisis.
Plastic circularity: Challenges, opportunities, and future pathways
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This review examines the barriers to a circular plastic economy, concluding that mechanical recycling alone is insufficient and nearing its technical limits, while advanced methods such as chemical depolymerization and dissolution recycling face high costs and market underdevelopment, requiring coordinated regulatory, design, and infrastructure changes to close the recycling gap.
Plastic waste management through biological methods: an approach towards sustainable development
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This review evaluates biological methods for plastic waste management—including microbial degradation using bacteria and fungi and bioplastic development—as sustainable approaches to reducing plastic pollution's impact on food chains and ecosystems. The authors also discuss the potential to convert plastic waste into value-added products and electricity as circular economy pathways, while identifying key variables that must be considered when selecting viable bioremediation strategies.
Integrated and Consolidated Review of Plastic Waste Management and Bio-Based Biodegradable Plastics: Challenges and Opportunities
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This review integrates and consolidates the global status of plastic waste management alongside the development of bio-based and biodegradable polymer alternatives. With cumulative plastic production reaching 8.3 billion tonnes by 2015 and 79% of plastic waste ending up in landfills or the environment, the review identifies urgent need for both improved waste management and scalable bioplastic alternatives.
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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.