Impacts of plastic waste management strategies

Abstract

The ecological and societal impacts of plastics production, use, and waste are a complex global challenge. Management strategies to mitigate the impacts of plastics, such as recycling, waste-to-energy, and replacement with alternative materials have impacts of their own. Achieving long-term sustainability of plastics use therefore requires considering the externalized impacts of such management strategies. Here, we assessed the literature on the most common plastic waste management strategies to identify their impacts in relation to the sustainable development goals. We reviewed impacts of bans, levies, and taxes; alternative products; recycling; waste-to-energy; plastic recovery; and extended producer responsibility. Our analysis identified a total of 259 measured impacts of plastic waste mitigation strategies, from 113 papers. Ninety-three impacts were negative, 104 were positive, 11 were neutral, and 51 depended on the context of implementation. Consideration of the impacts of both plastic materials and management strategies is necessary to avoid perverse outcomes of plastic pollution mitigation efforts.