Gaps within single-use plastic circular economy research

Researchers from the Circularity Informatics Lab at the University of Georgia recently examined five-years (2019-2023) of published peer-reviewed manuscripts on the circular economy to identify knowledge gaps related to the circularity of single-use plastic packaging. 

While the idea of a CE has been discussed for nearly two centuries, there has been a significant increase in term usage, research, and laws surrounding CE. The team’s novel review utilized document coding software to help analyze 355 peer-reviewed publications. 

The researchers compiled and organized the papers through specific document selection and document coding, with some limitations. The data was then analyzed through journal and geography representation; non-academic authorship and acknowledgements; sentiments, perspectives and keywords; lifecycle representation; sector focus of study and funding; definitions of CE; methodologies to quantify CE; and social justice across the life cycle. 

Too much focus on high-income countries

The paper found most publications were from first authors located in or focused on The Global North and high-income countries. Most articles did not include non-academic authorship and acknowledgements; those that did acknowledged stakeholders in industry for contribution and funding. There was a disproportionate focus on the end-of-life stage of the plastic CE. The most researched sector was chemical recycling. The group also found that there is too much differentiation in the definition of CE and methods of quantification and too little discussion of environmental equity in CE research. 

The paper concludes with acknowledgement of limitations and hopes for future use, iteration and extensions of the study. 

“Trends in circular economy and plastic packaging: A 5-year review of academic literature” was coauthored by Taylor Maddalene Myers, Christina H. Fuller, Alysha Helmrich and Jenna Jambeck. The paper was published in Springer Nature’s Circular Economy and Sustainability journal. 

 

— by Leighton Dancy