How does the global plastic waste trade contribute to environmental benefits: Implication for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions?

Zhe Liu, Weili Liu, Tony R. Walker, Michelle Adams, Jingjing Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

47 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plastic waste pollution has been identified as a serious global issue, posing environmental risks in terms of massive waste generation, ocean pollution, and increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Despite documented environmental impacts, it remains debatable whether the global plastic waste trade (GPWT) for reutilization and recycling, as part of the global circular economy (CE), has historically contributed to environmental benefits. To investigate if historical GPWT has contributed to environmental benefits in terms of reductions of GHG emissions, this study analyzed GPWT between China and trading countries through their trajectories, characteristics and driving forces of reductions of GHG emissions between 1992 and 2017. Results indicated an increasing trend of reductions of GHG emissions in GPWT between China and trading countries over 25 years. A net reduction of 8.27 million metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) was observed in 2012, nearly 84 times levels observed in 1992. Policy implications after China's recent ban of imports of GPWT in December 2017 and recent changes of GPWT to other Asian countries are discussed. Dramatic changes in sustainable approaches to GPWT for reutilization and recycling are required.

Original languageEnglish
Article number112283
JournalJournal of Environmental Management
Volume287
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 1 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This study was supported by Youth Talent Fund ( GG6J006 ) from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China , Natural Science Foundation of China ( 32001217 ) and National Key Research and Development Program of China ( 2019YFC1904500 ). Especially, we want to thank those anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and contributions to the publication of this paper.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article

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