Country-specific net-zero strategies of the pulp and paper industry.

The pulp and paper industry is an important contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions1,2. Country-specific strategies are essential for the industry to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, given its vast heterogeneities across countries3,4. Here we develop a comprehensive bottom-up assessment of net greenhouse gas emissions of the domestic paper-related sectors for 30 major countries from 1961 to 2019-about 3.2% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions from the same period5-and explore mitigation strategies through 2,160 scenarios covering key factors. Our results show substantial differences across countries in terms of historical emissions evolution trends and structure. All countries can achieve net-zero emissions for their pulp and paper industry by 2050, with a single measure for most developed countries and several measures for most developing countries. Except for energy-efficiency improvement and energy-system decarbonization, tropical developing countries with abundant forest resources should give priority to sustainable forest management, whereas other developing countries should pay more attention to enhancing methane capture rate and reducing recycling. These insights are crucial for developing net-zero strategies tailored to each country and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 for the pulp and paper industry.

Designing a circular carbon and plastics economy for a sustainable future.

The linear production and consumption of plastics today is unsustainable. It creates large amounts of unnecessary and mismanaged waste, pollution and carbon dioxide emissions, undermining global climate targets and the Sustainable Development Goals. This Perspective provides an integrated technological, economic and legal view on how to deliver a circular carbon and plastics economy that minimizes carbon dioxide emissions. Different pathways that maximize recirculation of carbon (dioxide) between plastics waste and feedstocks are outlined, including mechanical, chemical and biological recycling, and those involving the use of biomass and carbon dioxide. Four future scenarios are described, only one of which achieves sufficient greenhouse gas savings in line with global climate targets. Such a bold system change requires 50% reduction in future plastic demand, complete phase-out of fossil-derived plastics, 95% recycling rates of retrievable plastics and use of renewable energy. It is hard to overstate the challenge of achieving this goal. We therefore present a roadmap outlining the scale and timing of the economic and legal interventions that could possibly support this. Assessing the service lifespan and recoverability of plastic products, along with considerations of sufficiency and smart design, can moreover provide design principles to guide future manufacturing, use and disposal of plastics.

Life cycle assessment of plastic waste in Suzhou, China: Management strategies toward sustainable express delivery.

The explosive growth of China's express delivery industry has greatly increased plastic waste, with low-value plastics not effectively utilized, such as PE packaging bags, which are often not recycled and end up in landfills or incinerators, causing significant resource waste and severe plastic pollution. A gate -to- grave life cycle assessment was adopted to assess the impacts of express delivery plastic waste (EDPW) management models (S1, landfill; S2, incineration; S3, mechanical pelletization), with Suzhou, China as a case. Results showed that mechanical pelletization, was the most environmentally advantageous, exhibiting a comprehensive environmental impact potential of -215.54 Pt, significantly lower than that of landfill (S1, 78.45 Pt) and incineration (S2, -121.77 Pt). The analysis identified that the end-of-life disposal and sorting stages were the principal contributors to environmental impacts in all three models, with transportation and transfer stages of residual waste having minimal effects. In terms of all environmental impact categories, human carcinogenic toxicity (HTc) emerged as the most significant contributor in all three scenarios. Specifically, S1 exhibited the most detrimental effect on human health, while S2 and S3 showed positive environmental impacts. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the application and innovation in mechanical recycling technologies be enhanced, the promotion of the eco-friendly transformation of packaging materials be pursued, and a sustainable express delivery packaging recycling management system be established. These strategies are essential for achieving more eco-friendly management of EDPW, reducing its environmental pollution, and moving towards more sustainable express delivery management practices.

Closing the loop: A framework for tackling single-use plastic waste in the food and beverage industry through circular economy- a review.

The escalating threat of plastic pollution necessitates urgent and immediate action, particularly within the food and beverage (F&B) industry, a significant contributor to single-use plastic waste (SUP). As the global population surges, so does the consumption of single-use plastics in the F&B sector, perpetuating a linear economy model characterized by a 'take, make, use, dispose' approach. This model significantly exacerbates plastic waste issues, with projections indicating an alarming increase in plastic outputs by 2050 if current practices continue. Against this backdrop, the circular economy presents a viable alternative, with its emphasis on resource retention, recovery, and the extension of product lifecycles. This study delves into the problems posed by single-use plastics, introduces the circular economy as a sustainable model, and explores effective strategies for the recycling and reuse of plastic waste within this framework. By examining the environmental impact of SUP in the F&B sector and advocating for the adoption of circular economy principles, this paper underscores a critical pathway towards sustainable solutions in the battle against plastic pollution. In conclusion, the transition to a circular economy, underpinned by global collaboration and the proactive implementation of supportive policies, is imperative for reducing the environmental footprint of single-use plastics and fostering a sustainable future.

What to Do about Plastics? Lessons from a Study of United Kingdom Plastics Flows.

Plastics are one of the most widely used materials on the planet, owing to their usefulness, durability, and relatively low cost. Yet, making, using, and disposing of plastics create important environmental impacts, most notably greenhouse gas emissions and waste pollution. Reducing these impacts while still enjoying the benefits of plastic use requires an integrated assessment of all of the life cycles of plastics. This has rarely been attempted due to the wide variety of polymers and the lack of knowledge on the final uses and applications of plastics. Using trade statistics for 464 product codes, we have mapped the flows of the 11 most widely used polymers from production into six end-use applications for the United Kingdom (UK) in 2017. With a dynamic material flow analysis, we have anticipated demand and waste generation until 2050. We found that the demand for plastics seems to have saturated in the UK, with an annual demand of 6 Mt, responsible for approximately 26 Mt CO2e/a. Owing to a limited recycling capacity in the UK, only 12% of UK plastic waste is recycled domestically, leading to 21% of the waste being exported, labeled as recycling, but mostly to countries with poor practices of waste management. Increasing recycling capacity in the UK could both reduce GHG emissions and prevent waste pollution. This intervention should be complemented with improved practices in the production of primary plastics, which currently accounts for 80% of UK plastic emissions.

The waste ban in China: what happened next? Assessing the impact of new policies on the waste management sector in China.

The 2017 ban on the waste import and new policies for the waste management sector in mainland China had wide-spread impact. After decades of poor environmental and public health impacts from the sector, a study is needed which focuses on policies updates and waste management. This provides a direction for the survival of local waste management industries and consider similarities with the ban promulgated in China on the restriction of waste import from other countries. We review the waste management situation in China before national legislation prevented the import of waste, highlight the status of landfill mining in China, and review the dynamics of domestic policies before and after the promulgation of the ban in China. The impact of the COVID19 pandemic on the waste management system is starting to emerge, providing both challenges and opportunities for the sector in China. We see the impact of the ban on the range of imported waste and domestically generated materials. The ban results in price increases for domestic recycling that forces companies to introduce more formal recycling processes and to drive the consumption behaviours to more reasonable and environmentally friendly options. The driver in China is to reduce pollution in the environment and improve health, but a negative impact has been from increased landfill mining which has impeded the original aim of the waste ban and requires further technological development. The dynamic of domestic policies in China shows higher level of activity of updates and revisions or introduction of new policies from 2015 onwards and the concept of 'zero waste cities' brings new hope for improvement of the Chinese waste management system. The pandemic also suggests an important step to establish sustainable management systems despite evidence of increased "fly-tipping". The rebound of the waste ban may have stimulated in the short term negative impacts on local environments both in China and internationally.

Research on the recycling and disposal of Chinese pesticide packaging waste based on evolutionary game theory.

This study aims to determine the optimal strategy and driving factors of the critical nodes of pesticide packaging waste recycling by constructing the recycling process of "village collection-town transport-county management." Counties, towns, and villages are the central nodes of collection, coordination, and communication in the recycling process. Their strategy selection and influencing factor analysis are related to the development of recycling. The county processing center, township transit center, and village recycling center were selected to construct a game model, and strategy and parameter assumptions were made to obtain the optimal strategy combination. The results showed that strict supervision, professional transportation and strict implementation are the best strategies for counties, towns and villages, respectively. Simulation analysis confirmed that factors such as cost, reward restricted the strategy selection of each subject. The higher the supervision, transport, and input costs, the lower the enthusiasm of counties, towns, and villages to participate in recycling, respectively. Reasonable control of reward could help each participant choose a stable strategy. The study provided the idea of a pilot before promotion for the government and emphasized the importance of controlling incentive policies and relative costs to improve the recycling process of pesticide packaging waste.

Lead Industry Influence in the 21st Century: An Old Playbook for a "Modern Metal".

In recent years, lead poisoning has received increasing attention as lead production continues to grow and the industry shifts the most polluting processes (e.g., smelting ore and recycling batteries) to low- and middle-income countries. The hazards associated with lead exposures have been well known for centuries while the industry actively promoted lead products. Less well known is how the industry continues to promote the "safe and responsible" use of lead and support research to question the underlying science and avoid regulation. Here I explore the historical context for recent actions that the industry has taken to ensure its longevity. Lead industry associations continue to employ some of the same themes that have proven successful in the past. Efforts to forestall regulatory initiatives to reduce emissions and restrict lead applications continue. Large battery manufacturers and recyclers and their associations place blame on informal-sector recycling to draw focus away from their own emissions. They have sought the cooperation of hired scientific experts and have funded United Nations organizations and nongovernmental organizations to deflect attention from their own contributions to global lead poisoning. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(S7):S723-S729. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306960).

Material studies for the recycling of abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG).

This study investigates the feasibility of material recycling for retrieved gillnets from the Baltic Sea collected during a campaign of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Germany. Fragments from the material were analysed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealing polyamide 6 (PA6), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in net material, swim lines and sink lines, respectively. A visual examination by microscope found large quantities of minerals attached to the surface of the material as well as in knots and loops of the polymer structure. Ash tests showed that a pre-treatment of the material including sorting, shredding, density separation and washing allows to reduce the mineral content from more than 45% of the total to 1.1%. However, for a separation by density, it is important that the entangled fibres can move freely. This is a major challenge for a primary or secondary mechanical recycling because a substantial fibre length reduction is required for the small polymer fibres down to a diameter of 20 µm. Another challenge for all kinds of recycling is the presence of lead lines in gillnets. Automated technology for removing these does not exist until now. A manual removal is indispensable to limit the level of contamination. Due to the complex pre-treatment and the elevated heavy metal concentrations also a tertiary or feedstock recycling seems not to be a possible pathway for retrieved gillnets. Yet, other options such as a primary recycling in concrete or bitumen additives or quaternary recycling via incineration may be conceivable alternatives. But there are also some arguments against these options. Better product design must be the goal to prevent plastic pollution and establish a functioning circular economy. In this context, the heavy metal contamination by abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) must be stopped.

Application of a 'Recycling Exchange' instrument to compensate waste pickers in Brazil via a first payment for urban environmental services programme.

This article presents an approach to compensate waste pickers in the informal sector of Minas Gerais state, Brazil, via a Payment for Urban Environmental Services (PUES) instrument, called 'Recycling Exchange'. The aim is to evaluate the effects of this instrument on the amount of waste diverted from landfill and reintroduced into the production chain, and to increase recognition of waste pickers' contributions to the state's economy. It was found that the 'Recycling Exchange' met the fundamental objectives of a PUES: the double social and economic benefits of the social inclusion of waste pickers in the execution of the public policy for solid waste management, and inducing (in the case of glass), ensuring and stabilising (plastic and paper) continuity of the activity of selling recyclables in times of wide price fluctuations for these recyclables. The instrument enhanced the provision of this environmental service and the positive externalities associated with recycling.

Considerations, benefits and unintended consequences of banning plastic shopping bags for environmental sustainability: A systematic literature review.

Although the ban on plastic bags is gaining in prominence as a policy option to manage plastic bag litter, there are mixed views on its rationale and effectiveness. This study employs a systematic literature review to understand considerations, benefits and unintended consequences of banning plastic bags. The review's results pointed to the limited success of a plastic bag ban owing to lack of suitable alternatives, limited state capacity to monitor and enforce the ban, thriving black market, structural and instrumental power of the plastic industry. The power of the industry was manifested by the covert practice of deflecting accountability to consumers by focusing on business-oriented solutions, including an inclination towards self-regulation. The findings of this study underscored the need for a global treaty to address the transient nature of plastic bag litter and moving away from the symbolic gesture of targeting only plastic shopping bags but considering the environmental impact of all forms of plastic such as straws, foamed plastics, plastic bottles and caps. There is a general consensus in literature that the end of plastic shopping bags is not nigh due to their utilitarian benefits. This study therefore recommends the promotion of a circular economy focusing on ecological modernisation, sustainable plastic bag manufacturing and recovery strategies such as recycling as a long-term strategy. A significant strand of literature reviewed also recommends the adoption of community-driven approaches such as voluntary initiatives as opposed to a plastic bag ban as they proved to be effective in promoting environmental citizenship behaviours in countries such as Finland.

Drift in policy implementation: Incentives thwarted in a recycling programme.

An incentives-based residential recycling programme was designed and implemented for improving residential waste sorting in Shanghai city, but showed very limited success in its performance. To identify why, this study systematically analysed each step of implementation using key informant interviews and site observations. Results show that policy intentions were retained in the policy devolution processes from Municipality to District, and then to Street (ward) levels, but the incentives concepts were effectively nullified in the further devolution to community-level governance. The local implementers focused on formal key performance indicators (KPIs) in order to satisfy inspections. However, the KPIs, which had been devised to allow ease of measurement, were found to unintentionally cause divergence from the policy intention of incentivisation of residents. Furthermore, high scores for these KPIs masked the implementation failure. This identification of the effective derailing of a policy via conscientious implementation is worth highlighting for avoidance in other programmes, in recycling or elsewhere.

Cuckoo optimization algorithm in reverse logistics: A network design for COVID-19 waste management.

Today, reverse logistics (RL) is one of the main activities of supply chain management that covers all physical activities associated with return products (such as collection, recovery, recycling and destruction). In this regard, the designing and proper implementation of RL, in addition to increasing the level of customer satisfaction, reduces inventory and transportation costs. In this paper, in order to minimize the costs associated with fixed costs, material flow costs, and the costs of building potential centres, a complex integer linear programming model for an integrated direct logistics and RL network design is presented. Due to the outbreak of the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) at the beginning of 2020 and the consequent increase in medical waste, the need for an inverse logistics system to manage waste is strongly felt. Also, due to the worldwide vaccination in the near future, this waste will increase even more and careful management must be done in this regard. For this purpose, the proposed RL model in the field of COVID-19 waste management and especially vaccine waste has been designed. The network consists of three parts - factory, consumers' and recycling centres - each of which has different sub-parts. Finally, the proposed model is solved using the cuckoo optimization algorithm, which is one of the newest and most powerful meta-heuristic algorithms, and the computational results are presented along with its sensitivity analysis.

Mismanagement of Plastic Waste through Open Burning with Emphasis on the Global South: A Systematic Review of Risks to Occupational and Public Health.

Large quantities of mismanaged plastic waste threaten the health and wellbeing of billions worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where waste management capacity is being outstripped by increasing levels of consumption and plastic waste generation. One of the main self-management strategies adopted by 2 billion people who have no waste collection service, is to burn their discarded plastic in open, uncontrolled fires. While this strategy provides many benefits, including mass and volume reduction, it is a form of plastic pollution that results in the release of chemical substances and particles that may pose serious risks to public health and the environment. We followed adapted PRISMA guidelines to select and review 20 publications that provide evidence on potential harm to human health from open burning plastic waste, arranging evidence into eight groups of substance emissions: brominated flame retardants; phthalates; potentially toxic elements; dioxins and related compounds; bisphenol A; particulate matter; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We semiquantitatively assessed 18 hazard-pathway-receptor combination scenarios to provide an indication of the relative harm of these emissions so that they could be ranked, compared and considered in future research agenda. This assessment overwhelmingly indicated a high risk of harm to waste pickers, a large group of 11 million informal entrepreneurs who work closely with waste, delivering a circular economy but often without protective equipment or a structured, safe system of work. Though the risk to human health from open burning emissions is high, this remains a substantially under-researched topic.

Issues and solutions of electronic waste urban mining for circular economy transition: An Indian context.

The rapid consumption of advanced e-products has intensified problems for the linear economy; constantly diminishing natural resources employed in production processes have created a need of recycle and reuse. Although the transition to a circular economy proposes to end the loop of e-products, it needs the application of processes such as urban mining to recover resources as secondary raw material. The present study intends to examine the issues and challenges of electronic waste urban mining (EWUM) in India that need to be assessed for the development of a sustainable economy. To accomplish this, the current study employs integrated Multi-Criteria-Decision making methods (MCDM). Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) is used to prioritize issues and their possible solutions with Weighted Assessment Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS) methods introduced to explore these challenges and provide solutions for managing EWUM. There is an immediate need to acknowledge the issues confronted by stakeholders in urban mining processes for successful transition to a circular economy. A better understanding of the issues will help policy makers and decision makers to implement best practices to enhance the urban mining process in India. This study has shown that socio-economic (SE) issues are the most critical issues in EWUM in India. The possible solutions that would have most impact are to enhance awareness campaigns for people to educate themselves regarding e-waste, train staff to handle safe disposal of e-waste and produce eco-friendly electronic products.

Provision of extended producer responsibility system for products packaging: A case study of Iran.

A powerful legal tool in evolving solid waste management (SWM) systems is extended producer responsibility (EPR). It is a mechanism that shifts the responsibility of a product to manufacturers/importers at the 'end-of-life' stage. Yet, implementation of the EPR concept has faced difficulties in developing countries. In Iran, as one such country, the principle of EPR system was issued in executive regulation of SWM in 2005, however, so far, it has been limited to a voluntary scheme. The problem merits further investigation. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the obstacles in the path of developing EPR system for product packaging. The research examines the current SWM systems in four functional classified frameworks: legal, institutional, financial and technical. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the system are elaborated through semi-structured interviews with a senior executive in the Ministry of Interior (MoI). Then, viable methods to increase resource efficiency and sustainable waste treatment are suggested. The change in the financing mechanism in the Budget Law 2020 forces the manufacturers/importers of products containing recyclable components to pay the revenue from one in 1000 products to MoI for developing recycling facilities and incinerators through partnerships with the private sector. This new strategy would promote proper management of product packaging, create more jobs and a market for international cooperation. However, poor source-separation of wet/dry waste, informal sector activities, exclusive focus on the economic aspect of waste management, lack of expertise and public awareness campaigns are the barriers in this regard.