Plastic Fate: Opportunities and Challenges

Plastics have invaded a wide range of our life applications as successfully being an inexpensive, lightweight, versatile, and durable man-made material. The growth of plastic manufacture has outpaced any other material, and the lack of a well-designed strategy for properly assessing plastic end-of-life fate poses a serious threat affecting the environmental and natural habitats worldwide for being accumulated as debris in landfills or dumped in the ocean. The highest plastic waste mainly is referred to in the packaging sector and, if no action was taken on a global scale, it is expected that roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will pile up either in landfills or the natural environment by 2050. In the light of that, a further approach beyond traditional recycling is required hand in hand with applying stricter regulations. This paper outlines plastic waste consumption and types. Also, an overview of different plastic waste processing technologies proposed by recent studies is presented with the aim of inspiring both science and innovation towards sustainable development of plastic waste by encouraging a circular lifespan of plastic with the aid of public and management support.