New article on plastics recycling in developing countries published in the Journal of Cleaner Production

Mismanaged plastic waste is a major environmental concern, especially in countries of the Global South. Municipal solid waste management can not only alleviate environmental problems but also create jobs and promote local economic growth. However, providing appropriate waste management services is costly. The question is to what extent waste management policies that have proven to be successful in other geographies can help solve the challenge in developing countries. Specifically, the economics and financial flows along the value chain need to be known.

The the article, the authors shed light on these questions by presenting a novel, model-based method to elicit and assess the cost structure of the recycling sector in developing countries. Catharina, Sebastian and Edward exemplify their method with plastics waste management in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana—an area particularly challenged by plastic waste.

They find that

• (Street) waste pickers - the poorest and vulnerable - often refrain from using necessary safety equipment for cost reasons and are highly dependent on 'middlemen' to buy their materials and provide them with protective equipment
• The formality of recyclers allows for scaling (as they do not have to stay under the radar) but can in turn reduce output quality due to higher administrative fees
• Substantial investments are needed to scale up recycling capacity and quality to improve the circularity of the plastics.

Catharina and Sebastian were invited to present the full list of findings to the Ghana Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation and their work is considered in the development of the countries Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.

The full text of the article is available Downloadherevertical_align_bottom.