Modelling the barriers to sustainable waste management in the plastic-manufacturing industry: An emerging economy perspective

Sustainable waste management (SWM) is an important goal for the plastic manufacturing industry, which is aiming toward enhancing its economic, environmental, and social sustainability in recent years. However, plastic manufacturing industries in developing countries like Bangladesh are yet to establish efficient SWM systems despite the amount of solid plastic waste continually rising across all sectors. This paper investigates the underexplored barriers to implementing SWM in the Bangladeshi plastic industry. First, it employs the Delphi method to identify the 16 most relevant barriers to SWM through a literature review and expert feedback. Then, using an integrated grey theory and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method-based framework, it evaluates these 16 barriers to examine their interrelationships in the context of emerging economies. The findings show that the five most significant barriers are as follows: lack of awareness of and knowledge about plastic waste disposal, lack of compliant waste management, lack of a sense of environmental responsibility on the part of manufacturers, lack of systematic waste collection and effective dumping-ground utilization and lack of proper environmental policies, legislations, and regulations. This study presents valuable insights that can deeply contribute to the literature on SWM, enabling scholars, policymakers, and industrial managers to practice sustainability more effectively in the plastic manufacturing industry.