Sustainable single-use plastic management on Sichang Island, Thailand

• Single-use plastics make up 74.47% of waste on Sichang Island. • Plastic bags, single-layer plastic film packaging, and bottles are the most common plastic waste types in Sichang Island. • LDPE, PET, and HDPE are the main polymers found in the Sichang single-use plastic waste. • Three waste management scenarios were assessed using life cycle analysis (LCA). • Scenario 3, using 75% refuse-derived fuel and 25% recycling, has the lowest environmental impact for single-use plastics in Sichang Island. In this study, we investigated plastic waste management on Sichang Island, Thailand, with a focus on single-use plastic waste and polymer composition analysis. A total of seven single-use plastic categories are referenced in this papers according to Thailand’s Plan for Plastic Waste Management Phase II (2023–2027) that attempts to reduce plastic waste in landfills, increase recycling, and decrease plastic waste entering the ocean. Plastic waste (49.17%) is the dominate solid waste material on Sichang Island. The results of our investigated demonstrated that 74.47% of the waste consisted of single-use plastics, and the top three dominant single-use plastic-types were plastic bags, single-layer plastic film packaging, and plastic bottles. The identified polymer types (i.e., LDPE: 31%; PET: 20.5%; and HDPE: 18.5%) were consistent with those commonly found in single-use plastics. This study assessed three single-use plastic management scenarios for Sichang Island using lifecycle assessment (LCA) with seven impact categories. The results of the LCA demonstrated that scenario S3 under the Sichang model, which includes refuse-derived fuel (75%) and recycling (25%), was the most environmentally friendly. In addition, the findings of this study indicate that sustainable management should separate waste at the source and promote the utilization of environmentally friendly materials.