Recycling of Plastic Waste: A Systematic Review Using Bibliometric Analysis

Ichiro Tsuchimoto () and Yuya Kajikawa
Additional contact information
Ichiro Tsuchimoto: Graduate School of Innovation Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 3-3-6 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0023, Japan
Yuya Kajikawa: Graduate School of Innovation Management, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 3-3-6 Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0023, Japan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-39

Abstract: Research into plastic recycling is rapidly increasing as ocean and land pollution and ecosystem degradation from plastic waste is becoming a serious concern. In this study, we conducted a systematic review on emerging research topics, which were selected from 35,519 studies on plastic recycling by bibliometrics analysis. Our results show that research on the biodegradability of plastics, bioplastics, life cycle assessment, recycling of electrical and electronic equipment waste, and the use of recycled plastics in construction has increased rapidly in recent years, particularly since 2016. Especially, biodegradability is the most emerging topic with the average year of publication being 2018. Our key finding is that many research area is led by developed countries, while the use of recycled plastics in the construction sector is being actively explored in developing countries. Based on our results, we discuss two types of recycling systems: responsible recycling in the country where plastic waste is generated and promoting recycling through the international division of labor between developed and developing countries. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and propose necessary measures for sustainable and responsible production and consumption of plastics such as waste traceability system and technology transfer between developed and developing countries.

Keywords: plastic recycling; plastic waste; circular economy; plastic pollution; mechanical recycling; chemical recycling; biodegradation; bioplastics; e-waste; plastics in construction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16340/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/24/16340/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:24:p:16340-:d:995968

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().