A Blockchain Based Transparent Framework for Plastic Waste Management

A massive amount of plastic waste is generated every day. However, a very small portion of it gets recycled, primarily due to improper waste management and lack of access to the plastic recycling infrastructure. Hence, we position that plastic waste, if handled carefully and in a timely manner, the percentage of recycled plastic waste can be significantly increased. Such recycling can transform used plastic objects into plastic bricks, plastic plant pots, plastic fibres, or social plastics. A few organizations do these recycling jobs; however, they need a vast amount of plastic materials to be made available in a timely manner for effective recycling – noteworthy a need for an effective and transparent supply-chain system. Hence, we propose building a Blockchain-based decentralized application through which these organizations can collect plastics from anyone and track them in a timely manner. Further, transparency of the process and associated rewards system (non-monetary) for Blockchain transactions can greatly incentivize the users to recycle the plastics. Thus, a Blockchain-based distributed management system with a right incentive structure can help bridge the gap between users and organizations, and help towards reducing the footprint of plastic waste.