Plastic Waste Management Strategies and Their Environmental Aspects: A Scientometric Analysis and Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Plastic consumption increases with the growing population worldwide and results in increased quantities of plastic waste. There are various plastic waste management strategies; however, the present management progress is not sustainable, and plastic waste dumping in landfills is still the most commonly employed strategy. Being nonbiodegradable, plastic waste dumping in landfills creates several environmental and human health problems. Numerous research studies have been conducted recently to determine safe and ecologically beneficial methods of plastic waste handling. This article performed a bibliographic analysis of the available literature on plastic waste management using a computational approach. The highly used keywords, most frequently cited papers and authors, actively participating countries, and sources of publications were analyzed during the bibliographic analysis. In addition, the various plastic waste management strategies and their environmental benefits have been discussed. It has been concluded that among the six plastic waste management techniques (landfills, recycling, pyrolysis, liquefaction, road construction and tar, and concrete production), road construction and tar and concrete production are the two most effective strategies. This is due to significant benefits, such as ease of localization, decreased greenhouse gas emissions, and increased durability and sustainability of manufactured materials, structures, and roadways. Conversely, using landfills is the most undesirable strategy because of the associated environmental and human health concerns. Recycling has equal benefits and drawbacks. In comparison, pyrolysis and liquefaction are favorable due to the production of char and fuel, but high energy requirements limit their benefits. Hence, the use of plastic waste for construction applications is recommended.

A Step towards Sustainable Concrete with Substitution of Plastic Waste in Concrete: Overview on Mechanical, Durability and Microstructure Analysis

“…By the end of 2025, the global materials construction industry expected a 59 percent growth in aggregate demand [5]. Due to the constant manufacture of concrete, natural resources are depleting, resulting in severe environmental consequences [6][7][8][9]. Fast economic growth and the emergence of a throwaway culture, on the other hand, have resulted in challenges in garbage managing and its dumping.…”

A Systematic Review of the Research Development on the Application of Machine Learning for Concrete

“…Conventional review studies lack the capacity to link disparate portions of the literature accurately and comprehensively. Scientific visualization, co-citations, and co-occurrence are among the highly complicated aspects of contemporary research [75][76][77][78]. The scientometric analysis revealed the sources with the most publications, keyword co-occurrence, the authors with the most papers and citations, the top articles in terms of citations, and the regions actively involved in research regarding ML applications for concrete.…”

Bioplastic degradation by a polyhydroxybutyrate depolymerase from a thermophilic soil bacterium

“…The continued worldwide reliance on petroleum‐based single‐use plastics (most notably polypropylene and polyethylene) poses a multifaceted existential threat to the biosphere. 1 Non‐polyester plastics are notoriously long lived in the environment and create microplastics as they degrade, which pose health hazards to humans and to aquatic organisms. 2 , 3 , 4 Although petroleum‐based polyesters like polyethylene terephthalate degrade faster in the environment, 5 , 6 , 7 they too are problematic.…”