Blockchain Technology for Sustainable Waste Management

The global waste and resource crises necessitate and give great impetus for better and more sustainable management of waste. Increasingly, resource and waste streams that once were sent to landfill or incinerated are now reused, recycled, or recovered. Yet, while many laws and policies have been adopted for this very purpose, a number of recurrent challenges persist across interventions seeking to further facilitate the necessary, widespread transitions to sustainable waste management. This perspective article explores the suitability of blockchain technology in overcoming these challenges. In particular, we discuss the opportunities and challenges for blockchain in (1) offering clarity in property rights of products and wastes, (2) supporting law and policy goals by incentivizing sustainable waste management, and (3) maintaining anonymity and privacy for institutions and individuals

Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We?

Blockchain technology is emerging as a plausible disruptor of waste management practices that influence the governance of plastics. The interest among the waste management community in the potential and fundamental changes to complex resource management associated with blockchain adoption parallels recent research in other sectors, such as finance, health, public administration, etc. During any comparable period characterized by a step-change in positive coverage of an early-stage technology, it can be challenging for actors to access a grounded, evidence-based oversight of the current state of practice and make informed decisions about whether or how to adopt blockchain technology. The current absence of such a systematic overview of recent experiences with blockchain initiatives disrupting waste practices not only limits the visibility of these experimental efforts, but also limits the learning that can be shared across waste plastics researcher and practitioner communities. This paper contributes with a current overview of blockchain technology adoption in the waste management sector, giving particular attention to implications for the governance of plastics. Our study draws on both primary interview data and secondary documentation data to map the landscape of current blockchain initiatives in the global waste sector. We identify four areas of blockchain use that are beginning to change waste management practices (payment, recycling and reuse rewards, monitoring and tracking of waste, and smart contracts). We conclude by outlining five areas of significant blockchain uses, implications, and influences of relevance to the development of circular plastic waste governance in both research and practice

Limitations of the circular economy concept in law and policy

The circular economy (CE) concept has gained significant attention globally and nationally largely due to anticipated economic, environmental, and social benefits for sustainable development. As a result, laws and policies to advance CEs are increasingly being adopted nationally and regionally. In this perspective article we argue that a systematic approach to designing and implementing CE laws is necessary to cover the multi-level, multi-actor, and multi-sector dimensions of the CE concept. Such an approach should be built on a CE concept with clarified boundaries and scale to ensure it remains a meaningful concept and avoids perpetuating an unsustainable status quo. Moreover, a systematic approach should incorporate justice dimensions to deliver CEs that are fair, just, and inclusive. In the article we first identify five fundamental limitations to existing CE laws: (1) unclear boundaries and scale, (2) oversimplification of goals, (3) side-lining of justice dimensions, (4) reinforcement of the status quo, and (5) unintended consequences. Secondly, based on these limitations, we identify four directions for further research that can contribute to developing more effective CE laws. As there is no one-size-fits-all CE approach, any changes to existing laws and policies, or development of new ones, will require a wider evidence-base, from both the Global South and marginalized communities in the Global North, to reflect, inter alia, different practices, cultural relationships with material flows, and epistemological diversity

A rubbish idea : how blockchains could tackle the world’s waste problem

Waste litters our oceans, beaches and wider environment, making it one of the pressing issues of our times. Blockchains are virtual ledgers on which data can be permanently stored. They are a public record, so they are very transparent and accountable. This post aims to set out how blockchains may be used as part of the waste management toolkit