Abstract
Neglecting externality cost in extended producer responsibility (EPR) fiscal planning worsens the free-ridership issue in plastic waste (PW) management. An integrated P-graph-life cycle optimization framework is developed to optimize PW management pathways based on the synergistic trade-off between the environmental and economic concerns via graphical output with cost-bearing responsibilities illustrated. Malaysia (i.e., the top PW import destination) is chosen as the case study. Mechanical recycling has the largest externality gain (12.10 US$2022/t PW); incineration has the highest externality loss (–119.58 US$2022/t PW). The optimal solutions encompassing landfill, incineration, and mechanical recycling yield profit if only considering budget cost with revenue from secondary products (i.e., 0.78–112 M US$2022/y). When externality cost is included, the solutions suffer financial loss (i.e., –20.6 to 50 M US$2022/y). Sensitivity analysis indicates optimal pathways are sensitive to collection fees and prices of secondary products. This study provides new insights to promote circular PW policy implementation with externality consideration.
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