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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Sustainability Impact Assessment of Increased Plastic Recycling and Future Pathways of Plastic Waste Management in Sweden
ClearThe practice of recycling
This Swedish thesis examined recycling practices and waste management systems, analyzing how high recycling rates can be maintained and improved as the volume of waste continues to grow. Effective recycling infrastructure is critical for keeping plastic out of the environment and reducing microplastic generation.
Environmental Impact Assessment of Plastic Waste Management Scenarios in the Canadian Context
Using life cycle assessment, this Canadian study compared current plastic waste management against two alternative scenarios and found that shifting away from landfill-dominated disposal could significantly cut environmental impacts including greenhouse gas emissions. The findings underscore that how we manage plastic waste matters as much as how much plastic we produce, with implications for future policy.
Recycling of Plastics as a Strategy to Reduce Life Cycle GHG Emission, Microplastics and Resource Depletion
This study quantified the environmental benefits of recycling widely consumed plastic polymers, demonstrating that increased plastic recycling significantly reduces life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, microplastic pollution, and resource depletion.
Expansion of the Waste-Based Commodity Frontier: Insights from Sweden and Brazil
This study examines Sweden's waste-to-energy system, which burns plastics for fuel, and argues it has become an obstacle to more sustainable recycling and plastic reduction. The findings are relevant to the microplastics problem because waste incineration does not address the upstream production of plastics that eventually fragment into microplastics.
Environmental Impact of Plastic Waste: Strategies for Sustainable Management
This systematic review summarizes the environmental and health impacts of plastic waste and evaluates strategies for sustainable management. It highlights that plastic pollution threatens ecosystems and human health through microplastic contamination, and examines approaches like recycling, biodegradable alternatives, and policy interventions to reduce exposure.
Strategies and technologies for sustainable plastic waste treatment and recycling
This review covers current and emerging methods for recycling and treating plastic waste to reduce environmental pollution. The authors emphasize that improperly managed plastics break down into microplastics that contaminate ecosystems, and they evaluate strategies including chemical recycling, biodegradation, and energy recovery as more sustainable alternatives to landfilling.
Plant species-specific impact of polyethylene microspheres on seedling growth and the metabolome
Researchers modeled the lifecycle of plastic packaging and estimated the generation of secondary microplastics from different disposal pathways including landfill, incineration, and recycling. Results indicate that recycling significantly reduces microplastic generation but does not eliminate it entirely.
An Examination of Microplastics: Environmental Impact, Sustainability, and Recyclability Innovation
This paper examined the environmental impact of microplastics, sustainability implications of current plastic use, and recycling options to address the plastic pollution crisis. It called for a transition toward circular economy approaches that reduce primary plastic production and increase recycled content.
A State of Art and Prospects of Plastic Solid Waste Management
This review provides a comprehensive overview of plastic solid waste management methods, from recycling to incineration to landfill. Better waste management practices are essential for reducing the amount of plastic that breaks down into microplastics in the environment.
Influence of Plastic Waste Management on the Environment: A review
This review examined how different plastic waste management practices influence environmental outcomes, discussing the limitations of landfilling, incineration, and recycling for fossil-based plastics that persist in the environment for hundreds of years. The paper argued that transitioning to a circular economy is essential to reduce the environmental burden of plastic waste.
Plastic Pollution & Solution
This review examines plastic waste management strategies across the plastic lifecycle, noting that landfilling remains the dominant approach despite its environmental and health drawbacks. It concludes that recycling and energy recovery offer better outcomes than landfilling, which is relevant to microplastics because improper disposal accelerates the fragmentation of plastics into smaller particles that enter ecosystems.
Integrated Recycling and The Impact of Plastic Waste from Industry and Agriculture on The Environment
This review examined the environmental impacts of plastic waste from industrial and agricultural sources and assessed integrated recycling strategies for reducing those impacts. The paper discussed how plastic waste prevention, collection, and recycling can minimize pollution and climate contributions from the growing global plastic waste stream.
Recycling and Management of Microplastic Waste
This review examines recycling and management strategies for plastic waste, describing the technical and economic challenges of reducing plastic pollution and the remediation approaches that have been attempted to address microplastic accumulation in the environment.
Evaluating Plastic Waste Management in EU Accession Countries: A Life Cycle Perspective from the Republic of Serbia with Microplastic Implications
This study used life cycle assessment to evaluate how Serbia manages PET plastic packaging waste, comparing landfilling, recycling, and incineration. Researchers found that recycling offered the greatest environmental benefits, reducing impacts across multiple categories compared to the other disposal methods. The findings highlight the importance of improving recycling infrastructure in EU accession countries to align with environmental directives and reduce microplastic-related pollution.
Evaluating Plastic Waste Management in EU Accession Countries: A Life Cycle Perspective from the Republic of Serbia with Microplastic Implications
This life cycle assessment compared three end-of-life scenarios for PET plastic packaging in Serbia (landfilling, recycling, incineration), finding that recycling had the lowest environmental impact overall and that aligning Serbia's plastic waste management with EU standards would significantly reduce microplastic leakage.
Sustainable Value Roadmap for the Plastics Industry
This paper examined sustainability challenges for the plastics industry, reviewing life cycle perspectives and proposing a sustainable value roadmap to address microplastic contamination, marine pollution, and plastic landfill accumulation. The roadmap identifies collaborative opportunities for researchers, governments, and industry to transition toward more sustainable plastic production and disposal systems.
Sustainable Management for Urban Plastic Waste Generation
This book chapter reviews sustainable approaches to managing urban plastic waste, including recycling, waste-to-energy conversion, and reducing single-use plastics. The authors note that improper plastic disposal leads to microplastic generation, which can cause health problems including respiratory issues. The chapter emphasizes practical strategies cities can adopt to reduce plastic pollution and protect public health.
Managing Plastic Waste─Sorting, Recycling, Disposal, and Product Redesign
This review covers the full landscape of plastic waste management, from sorting and mechanical recycling to chemical recycling and disposal methods. The paper highlights that landfills remain the most common disposal method despite generating microplastics and toxic leachate, while advanced recycling technologies are still too expensive for widespread use. Better management of plastic waste is directly linked to reducing microplastic pollution and its associated human health risks.
The road to sustainable use and waste management of plastics in Portugal
Researchers assessed Portugal's plastic production, consumption, waste management, and beach litter levels relative to EU targets, finding that current recycling rates (34%) fall below EU averages (42%) and recommending expanded pyrolysis, gasification, and single-use plastic regulations as near-term complements to improved recycling infrastructure.
Assessing the environmental footprint of recycled plastic pellets: A life-cycle assessment perspective
This study used life-cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impact of producing recycled plastic pellets from waste polyolefin plastics. While recycling reduced carbon emissions compared to making new plastic, the process still required significant energy, especially when solvent recovery was maximized. The research is relevant to the microplastics problem because it shows that even recycling processes need optimization to truly reduce the environmental footprint of plastic waste.
E-plastic Waste: A Review of Waste Stream Management Challenges and Opportunities for Environmental Sustainability
Not directly relevant to microplastics — this review focuses on electronic plastic waste (e-plastics) as a distinct and neglected waste stream, examining management challenges and recycling opportunities without addressing environmental microplastic contamination.
Plastic Waste Management Strategies and Their Environmental Aspects: A Scientometric Analysis and Comprehensive Review
This review analyzes plastic waste management strategies worldwide through a large-scale review of scientific literature. Among six approaches studied, using plastic waste in road construction and concrete production were found to be the most environmentally beneficial, while landfills remain the most harmful due to creating microplastic pollution and releasing toxic chemicals. The findings are relevant to human health because better waste management directly reduces the amount of microplastics entering the environment.
A comprehensive review on integrative approach for sustainable management of plastic waste and its associated externalities
This review examines the challenges of managing plastic waste in developing countries, where inadequate infrastructure leads to open dumping and the generation of microplastics and nanoplastics. Researchers assessed various management strategies including mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, and energy recovery approaches. The study emphasizes the need for integrated, sustainable waste management systems to reduce the environmental and health externalities of plastic pollution.
A Critical Analysis of the Rising Global Demand of Plastics and its Adverse Impact on Environmental Sustainability
This critical review examined global trends in plastic demand and mismanaged plastic waste, identifying the top contributing countries and evaluating plastic replacement alternatives, arguing that reducing consumption and improving waste management infrastructure are more impactful than material substitution alone.