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Technological proposal for the valorization of single-use plastic waste generated in the city of Bogotá D.C

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"This study analyzed plastic waste management technologies for Bogotá, Colombia, where only 18% of discarded plastic is currently recovered, concluding that mechanical recycling with improved resin separation and contamination control offers the most economically viable short-term pathway toward circular economy goals for single-use plastic waste."

The environmental problem of single-use plastics in Bogotá has led to an accumulation of waste and the need to change the production model towards a circular economy. In Colombia, 1,500 tons of plastic are thrown away annually, contaminating water sources and soil. The proposal addresses the search for technologies for the sustainable use of these residues, describing the current management with recent figures that date the movement of solid material that could be recovered and prevented from reaching the Doña Juana landfill, therefore, the technologies available for the valorization of plastic waste were analyzed, where the main advantages of mechanical recycling and chemical recycling, coming from single-use plastic waste, are highlighted, for which analysis in technical, environmental and economic criteria are highlighted, all developed under a qualitative methodological approach of descriptive scope in which primary and secondary sources of information were consulted where it was evidenced that only 18% of the discarded plastic is being used, faced with this problem, a use is formulated that is adjusted to the city of Bogotá according to the available technologies, where mechanical recycling offers short-term solutions, optimizing critical phases of the process such as the identification and separation of plastic resins, together with adequate control of polluting sources, it would be the precursor technology in economically sustainable environmental results in the current situation, and in this way build a greater scope of compliance with the sustainable development objectives (SDG) avoiding oversaturation in the landfill.

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