When One Cannot Bypass the Byproducts: Plastic Packaging Waste Embedded in Production and Export

Gao, Xiang; Dall'erba, Sandy; Ellison, Brenna; Avelino, Andre F. T.; Yang, Cuihong

doi:10.1111/jiec.13282

When One Cannot Bypass the Byproducts: Plastic Packaging Waste Embedded in Production and Export

Journal Article · 24 May 2022 · Journal of Industrial Ecology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13282· OSTI ID:1872579

Gao, Xiang; Dall'erba, Sandy; Ellison, Brenna; Avelino, Andre F. T.; Yang, Cuihong

While packaging is praised for reducing waste of perishable food products, packaging waste is a growing concern. Its least recyclable type, plastics waste, is increasingly polluting the marine environment and many developing countries are now refusing to take the waste from developed countries. Before responsibility can be established, one has to identify the key producers and consumers. This paper adjusts the packaging waste satellite account in EXIOBASE 3 by combining the official waste data published by the World Bank. Based on input-output methods, we find that the world's top suppliers of plastic packaging waste are the United States, China, and Brazil. Food and beverage products constitute the bulk of the problem. Yet, 21% of these countries' plastic packaging waste is induced export. At the global level, it is 25.8%. About 76.0% of export-induced plastic packaging waste corresponds to packaging of the exported goods that will ultimately be disposed of in the destination country; while the others correspond to the packaging used in their supply-chain and wasted domestically. We conclude that international efforts need to assign shared responsibility and promote improvement in plastic packaging recyclability.

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

DOE Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1872579

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-6A20-83184; MainId:83957; UUID:bed23b2a-55a6-42ca-bfca-bdaac119f26b; MainAdminID:64678

Journal Information:: Journal of Industrial Ecology, Journal Name: Journal of Industrial Ecology Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 26

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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When One Cannot Bypass the Byproducts: Plastic Packaging Waste Embedded in Production and Export

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