Recycling plastic waste for enabling circular economy

Abstract

Municipal solid waste management is a major issue for many nations striving for a sustainable future. According to the United Nations Environmental Programme report [1], Municipal solid waste management is both a resource and a burden as it contains valuables and leftover waste that need to be managed carefully to keep the public healthy. Biodegradable and non-biodegradable components make up the majority of this waste; the latter includes things like plastics, tires, e-waste, glassware, building debris, metals, ceramics, some textiles, and batteries. Notably, there is significant worry about non-biodegradable waste, especially plastics. Sri Lanka is currently experiencing an economic crisis, import restrictions, shortages of goods, and hike in foreign exchange rate, all of which highlight the need to adopt a circular economy. Natural ecosystems are seriously threatened by Sri Lanka's rapidly increasing plastic usage, which is increasing at a pace of 16% per year [2]. Every year, over 265,000 megagrams (Mg) of plastic are consumed [2], most of which wind up in landfills. Sri Lanka has not yet adopted practices akin to those of other nations that recycle plastic waste into the circular economy. Failure to convert plastic waste could lead to adverse impacts such as reliance on imports, financial losses, unstable foreign exchange rates, shortages of necessities, rising demand for plastics, problems with the carbon cycle and environmental equilibrium, resource depletion, and failure to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.