IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v184y2024ics0305750x24002262.html

Global plastic pollution, sustainable development, and plastic justice

Author

Listed:
  • Stoett, Peter
  • Scrich, Vitória M.
  • Elliff, Carla I.
  • Andrade, Mariana M.
  • de M. Grilli, Natalia
  • Turra, Alexander

Abstract

This review article examines the current state of plastic waste and pollution, in particular in the form of marine litter, as it affects the goal of sustainable development and is affected by global North-South dynamics. The rise in plastic waste has had a deleterious effect on local populations and ecosystems, and remains a problem with numerous governance challenges, posing constraints to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This crisis is analyzed under the lens of global North-South dynamics, as the consequences for different nations differ in regard to their capacity to cope with waste, and other inequality issues. China’s decision to stop serving as the world’s central recycling location has pushed plastic waste exports into other Asian countries, and COVID-19 responses have utilized large quantities of plastic products. However, localized initiatives that involve non-governmental actors are making some headway in countries such as Brazil. This review article introduces the problem, examines extant literature linking plastic pollution with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, offers a brief Brazilian case study of a coordinated response, outlines key research gaps and needs, and articulates the concept of plastic justice as a progressive normative design and framework for further analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Stoett, Peter & Scrich, Vitória M. & Elliff, Carla I. & Andrade, Mariana M. & de M. Grilli, Natalia & Turra, Alexander, 2024. "Global plastic pollution, sustainable development, and plastic justice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:184:y:2024:i:c:s0305750x24002262
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106756
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X24002262
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2024.106756?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jen Baggs, 2009. "International Trade in Hazardous Waste," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Leach, Melissa & MacGregor, Hayley & Scoones, Ian & Wilkinson, Annie, 2021. "Post-pandemic transformations: How and why COVID-19 requires us to rethink development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Zamboni, Nadia Selene & Noleto Filho, Eurico Mesquita & Carvalho, Adriana Rosa, 2021. "Unfolding differences in the distribution of coastal marine ecosystem services values among developed and developing countries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    4. Laurent Lebreton & Anthony Andrady, 2019. "Future scenarios of global plastic waste generation and disposal," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Laurent C. M. Lebreton & Joost van der Zwet & Jan-Willem Damsteeg & Boyan Slat & Anthony Andrady & Julia Reisser, 2017. "River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-10, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anni Zhang, 2025. "Analysis of the Sustainable Development Pathway of Urban–Rural Integration from the Perspective of Spatial Planning: A Case Study of the Urban–Rural Fringe of Beijing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-19, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nakayama, Tadanobu & Osako, Masahiro, 2023. "Development of a process-based eco-hydrology model for evaluating the spatio-temporal dynamics of macro- and micro-plastics for the whole of Japan," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 476(C).
    2. Alistair McIlgorm & Jian Xie, 2023. "The Costs of Environmental Degradation from Plastic Pollution in Selected Coastal Areas in the United Republic of Tanzania," World Bank Publications - Reports 39547, The World Bank Group.
    3. Nakayama, Tadanobu & Osako, Masahiro, 2024. "Plastic trade-off: Impact of export and import of waste plastic on plastic dynamics in Asian region," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 489(C).
    4. Yutong Guo & Tolga Ayeri & Peter van Puijenbroek & Maryna Strokal, 2025. "Microplastics in global rivers: Sustainable practices," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 2937-2950, April.
    5. World Bank, 2021. "Plastic Waste Discharges from Rivers and Coastlines in Indonesia," World Bank Publications - Reports 35607, The World Bank Group.
    6. Ana B. Cuevas & David E. Leiva-Candia & M. P. Dorado, 2024. "An Overview of Pyrolysis as Waste Treatment to Produce Eco-Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-32, June.
    7. Alessandra Mezzadri, 2025. "Plural Futures of/for Development? The Case for Global and International Development, and Against All Inequalities Everywhere," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 37(2), pages 356-362, April.
    8. Changping Zhao & Juanjuan Sun & Yun Zhang, 2022. "A Study of the Drivers of Decarbonization in the Plastics Supply Chain in the Post-COVID-19 Era," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-20, November.
    9. Karimzadeh, Sara, 2026. "Waste delinking: A pathway to degrowth?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    10. repec:osf:socarx:ymzx7_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Kawther Saeedi & Anna Visvizi & Dimah Alahmadi & Amal Babour, 2023. "Smart Cities and Households’ Recyclable Waste Management: The Case of Jeddah," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-23, April.
    12. Anil Hira & Henrique Pacini & Kweku Attafuah-Wadee & David Vivas-Eugui & Michael Saltzberg & Tze Ni Yeoh, 2022. "Plastic Waste Mitigation Strategies: A Review of Lessons from Developing Countries," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 38(3), pages 336-359, September.
    13. Prudence Dato, 2015. "Economic analysis of e-waste market under imperfect information," Working Papers halshs-01172148, HAL.
    14. Court, Christa D. & Munday, Max & Roberts, Annette & Turner, Karen, 2015. "Can hazardous waste supply chain ‘hotspots’ be identified using an input–output framework?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(1), pages 177-187.
    15. Ewa Małgorzata Szepietowska & Ewa Zawadzka & Sara Filipiak, 2022. "Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the Sense of Gains and Losses during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-19, March.
    16. Subhayu Bandyopadhyay & Sumon Bhaumik & Howard J. Wall, 2013. "Biofuel Subsidies and International Trade," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 181-199, July.
    17. Tobias Erhardt, 2019. "Garbage In and Garbage Out? On Waste Havens in Switzerland," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 251-282, May.
    18. Rafael Estevez & Laura Aguado-Deblas & Francisco J. López-Tenllado & Felipa M. Bautista & Antonio A. Romero & Diego Luna, 2024. "Study on the Performance and Emissions of Triple Blends of Diesel/Waste Plastic Oil/Vegetable Oil in a Diesel Engine: Advancing Eco-Friendly Solutions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-17, March.
    19. Cordier, Mateo & Uehara, Takuro & Baztan, Juan & Jorgensen, Bethany & Yan, Huijie, 2021. "Plastic pollution and economic growth: The influence of corruption and lack of education," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    20. Amna Farrukh & Aymen Sajjad, 2024. "Investigating sustainability tensions and resolution strategies in the plastic food packaging industry—A paradox theory approach," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 2868-2889, May.
    21. Antonio Massarutto & Francesco Silvestri, 2015. "Free municipal waste trade as an incentive to recycling. A theoretical study," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2015(3), pages 89-107.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:184:y:2024:i:c:s0305750x24002262. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.