Enhancing public participation in plastic waste management for a sustainable circular economy: insights from Indonesia

Abstract The minimization of plastic waste that accumulates in landfills and pollutes the oceans necessitates green transition toward circular plastic waste management with a focus on reducing, reusing, and recycling as the primary alternatives. However, most studies have focused on the sustainability impact of a circular plastic waste management alternative rather than accounting for the sustainability aspects that currently concern society. This study aims to promote circular plastic waste management by addressing community perspective on five sustainability dimensions (social, economic, environmental, institutional, and technical). This study collected questionnaires from 1000 respondents using cluster sampling method based on residential area, with a distribution of 48.4%, 12.5%, 12%, 11.3%, 9.8%, and 6% of respondents coming from Jakarta, Bekasi, Bandung, Depok, Tangerang, and Bogor, respectively. The questionnaires revealed disparities in five sustainable dimensions, analyzed using paired t-tests, multiple linear regression, and binary logistic regression. The study discovered that reducing plastic waste is the main focus for transitioning to circular plastic waste management. The current amount of plastic waste was found to have the largest gap compared to what is expected by the community. Improving waste workers’ quality of life and raising public awareness of the environmental impact increased community willingness to separate and reuse plastic waste. Businesses that promote circular economy concepts also increase community willingness to buy recycled products. The accuracy of three models in predicting willingness to separate, reuse, and buy recycled plastic was 68.7%, 87.8%, and 86.4%, respectively. This study had practical implications for creating better working conditions for waste workers and increasing public participation in the circular economy. The findings also highlighted the importance of considering technical, institutional, and social dimensions in promoting sustainability and public participation in circular plastic waste management. Future research could use machine learning or simulation modeling to further explore these findings.