On the use of household expenditure surveys to monitor mismanaged plastic waste from food packaging in low- and middle-income countries
On the use of household expenditure surveys to monitor mismanaged plastic waste from food packaging in low- and middle-income countries
Background: Substantial increases in plastic production have resulted in plastics proliferating of in the environment, with subsequent seabed plastic deposition and ingestion by marine fauna. There is an urgent need to monitor mismanaged plastic waste from household consumption. Household expenditure survey analysis has quantified mismanaged plastic waste generated from household packaged (bottled or bagged) water consumption, but not from consumption of other products. Methods: To evaluate whether household expenditure surveys can quantify mismanaged waste from other widely consumed commodities, we quantify mismanaged plastic waste from the domestic consumption of cooking oil alongside packaged water in urban Greater Accra, Ghana, and all cities nationally in Kenya using two household expenditure surveys. Results: Household survey-derived estimates indicate packaged water consumption generates considerably more plastic waste than oil packaging in Greater Accra, whereas oil packaging generates more plastic waste than packaged water in urban Kenya. Conclusion: By successfully transferring a survey analysis protocol from packaged water to cooking oil, we conclude that there is ample potential for expenditure surveys to be used internationally to quantify mismanaged plastic waste from households. However, uncertainties affecting mismanaged waste estimates need to be accounted for.
domestic waste, food consumption, household expenditure survey, low and middle income countries, mismanaged plastic waste
Wright, Jim
94990ecf-f8dd-4649-84f2-b28bf272e464
Damkjaer, Simon
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Vaisanen, Heini
ee5b9497-7825-4fd8-8b7e-3d5d2b164766
Adama-Tettey, Quaranchie
cbbadd22-1074-408a-9cfd-05788a55b2a8
Dzodzomenyo, Mawuli
f7969c6b-5999-448b-befa-e1c2e0287895
Hill, A.G.
5b17aa71-0c14-4fbf-8bc9-807c8294d4ae
Okotto, L.G.
2f1a266f-0bfd-4c01-9277-402c7871820f
Okotto-Okotto, Joseph
a8cb5abe-ee03-4c93-978b-b02a02350e26
Shaw, Peter
935dfebf-9fb6-483c-86da-a21dba8c1989
6 December 2022
Wright, Jim
94990ecf-f8dd-4649-84f2-b28bf272e464
Damkjaer, Simon
4b8f799c-bfef-471b-9214-da4f06141516
Vaisanen, Heini
ee5b9497-7825-4fd8-8b7e-3d5d2b164766
Adama-Tettey, Quaranchie
cbbadd22-1074-408a-9cfd-05788a55b2a8
Dzodzomenyo, Mawuli
f7969c6b-5999-448b-befa-e1c2e0287895
Hill, A.G.
5b17aa71-0c14-4fbf-8bc9-807c8294d4ae
Okotto, L.G.
2f1a266f-0bfd-4c01-9277-402c7871820f
Okotto-Okotto, Joseph
a8cb5abe-ee03-4c93-978b-b02a02350e26
Shaw, Peter
935dfebf-9fb6-483c-86da-a21dba8c1989
Wright, Jim, Damkjaer, Simon, Vaisanen, Heini, Adama-Tettey, Quaranchie, Dzodzomenyo, Mawuli, Hill, A.G., Okotto, L.G., Okotto-Okotto, Joseph and Shaw, Peter
(2022)
On the use of household expenditure surveys to monitor mismanaged plastic waste from food packaging in low- and middle-income countries.
Environmental Research Letters, 17 (12), [124029].
(doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aca623).
Abstract
Background: Substantial increases in plastic production have resulted in plastics proliferating of in the environment, with subsequent seabed plastic deposition and ingestion by marine fauna. There is an urgent need to monitor mismanaged plastic waste from household consumption. Household expenditure survey analysis has quantified mismanaged plastic waste generated from household packaged (bottled or bagged) water consumption, but not from consumption of other products. Methods: To evaluate whether household expenditure surveys can quantify mismanaged waste from other widely consumed commodities, we quantify mismanaged plastic waste from the domestic consumption of cooking oil alongside packaged water in urban Greater Accra, Ghana, and all cities nationally in Kenya using two household expenditure surveys. Results: Household survey-derived estimates indicate packaged water consumption generates considerably more plastic waste than oil packaging in Greater Accra, whereas oil packaging generates more plastic waste than packaged water in urban Kenya. Conclusion: By successfully transferring a survey analysis protocol from packaged water to cooking oil, we conclude that there is ample potential for expenditure surveys to be used internationally to quantify mismanaged plastic waste from households. However, uncertainties affecting mismanaged waste estimates need to be accounted for.
Text
Wright_2022_Environ._Res._Lett._17_124029
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 25 November 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 6 December 2022
Published date: 6 December 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
This research was undertaken through the ‘Expanding safe water and waste management service access to off-grid populations in Africa’ project funded through a UKRI Collective Fund award via the Global Challenges Research Fund (ref: ES/T008121/1). The support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
Keywords:
domestic waste, food consumption, household expenditure survey, low and middle income countries, mismanaged plastic waste
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Local EPrints ID: 472901
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472901
ISSN: 1748-9326
PURE UUID: 63dfb24e-a1ad-4fa0-b2ce-4e21a31f61d5
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Date deposited: 05 Jan 2023 18:02
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 01:54
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Contributors
Author:
Quaranchie Adama-Tettey
Author:
Mawuli Dzodzomenyo
Author:
L.G. Okotto
Author:
Joseph Okotto-Okotto
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