Rethinking international co-operation on plastic pollution: financial flows and conceptual frameworks

Plastic pollution is a critical global challenge that impacts ecosystems, human health, society and the economy. Tackling it requires urgent action across the plastic life cycle, including measures to reduce production and consumption, and efforts to radically improve solid waste management (SWM), particularly for the 2.7 billion people globally who do not have access to services. Against this backdrop, this thesis provides a detailed analysis of the role of international co-operation efforts in reducing plastic pollution, focusing on the activities of bilateral donors and multi-lateral development banks.

A novel methodology for analysing official development finance (ODF) was developed and used to analyse 19 years of financial flows. It revealed that just USD 1.8 billion - less than 0.5% of all ODF - was focused on SWM in 2021, despite an increase since 2003. This is well below the USD 30 billion needed each year to improve SWM services. Upper middle-income countries receive the most support rather than lower-middle and low-income countries, where needs are greater.

A new conceptual framework was created - combining life cycle and project phase perspectives - to better analyse international co-operation focused on plastic pollution. Its application to four case studies in Southeast Asia, revealed a strong focus on capacity building and a limited emphasis on implementation and upstream solutions.

The broader implications are that efforts to tackle plastic pollution and improve SWM are insufficient. International co-operation has the potential to enable new approaches, de-risk projects and scale up solutions, but a new, ambitious approach is needed that combines system-wide enabling activities with substantial investment across the full life cycle. This could address plastic pollution and SWM challenges in the short term and lay the foundations for a longer-term transition to a circular economy.