Plastic waste: assessment of the prosesses of its formation and management in the North-Western Black Sea Coast Regions

Abstract

Plastic waste represents a specific component within the municipal solid waste structure because of the peculiarities of its formation, possibility of reuse and ecological consequences of environmental pollution. In particular, growing consumption of plastic is accompanied by a constant level of recycling (4-8%). This leads to accumulation of plastic waste in the environment. The article presents data on the content of plastic waste in the municipal solid waste of Ukrainian cities. According to the data the content of plastic waste within the municipal solid waste amounts to 10-12%. Plastic waste is mainly represented by polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate (more than 60%). It was discovered that plastic recycling companies import almost a third of recycled materials from Europe, while almost 84% of plastic is still ends brought to landfills. The analysis of the situation with separate collection of the municipal solid waste in the North-Western Black Sea Coast Region (namely Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson Regions) indicates a low level of secondary raw materials extraction. It is also exacerbated by the fact that only 75% of the population receives services for centralized collection of the municipal solid waste. It is estimated that almost 160,000 tons of plastic waste were brought to the landfills of Odesa Region in 2019. This volume is equal to the workload of existing plastic processing enterprises of Ukraine. So, as exemplified by Odesa Region, the research aimed at assessing the resource potential of plastic waste by main categories and in terms of clustering of the region, in accordance with the Regional Waste Management Plan project. It also describes the environmental consequences of leaving waste plastic materials in the environment – contamination with microplastics and formation of persistent organic pollutants. Moreover, it indicates that the municipal plastic waste is a significant source for such substances formation during thermal and mechanical destruction processes taking place within a landfill's body or marine environment. The research analyzes the main reasons for a low level of plastic waste use in the region. One of them is a lack of conditions allowing the citizens to collect plastic waste separately from the rest of their waste.