Addressing the challenges associated with plastic waste disposal and management in developing countries

Abstract

• Overview of Locally Managed Decentralized Circular Economy principles. • Overview of current issues of plastic management in developing countries. • Strategies for combating plastic waste in developing countries. • Overview of the current plastic waste crisis. The issue of unmanaged and mismanaged plastic waste is especially acute in developing countries, where the infrastructure for collection, reuse and recycling is often insufficient or lacking. This crisis is now exacerbated by growing imports of plastic waste from the developed world in response to China’s ban on plastic waste imports. For the developing world, successful strategies must address the diverse and context-specific technological, social, political, ecological, and economic challenges in each place where they are implemented. The concept of the circular economy is gaining widespread attention as a suitable solution. However, it is not a panacea as implementation requires sophisticated supply chain infrastructure. We argue that solutions meeting these specific challenges are embodied in the principle of Locally Managed Decentralized Circular Economy which is based on applying principles of appropriate technology to utilize locally available raw materials to produce goods with a local market, using locally available resources.