Recent Trends in Plastics Waste Management

Plastic waste management remains a global environmental challenge due to increasing production and inefficient disposal practices. This paper presents a critical and comparative analysis of recent trends in plastic waste management, including mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, biological degradation, artificial intelligence-based sorting, and circular economy strategies. Unlike conventional review studies, this work integrates quantitative comparisons of efficiency, cost, and scalability, supported by recent global statistics. The study identifies key performance differences among recycling technologies and highlights integration-based hybrid systems as a novel approach for improving recycling efficiency. The findings suggest that while advanced technologies offer high recovery rates (>85%), economic and scalability challenges remain barriers to widespread adoption. The paper concludes with specific research gaps and actionable recommendations for sustainable waste management systems.