Bošković Goran, Stanisavljević Nemanja, Batinić Bojan, Kovačević Srđan, Jovičić Nebojša, Cvetanović Angelina
Faculty of Engineering, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Republic of Serbia.
Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad, Republic of Serbia.
Waste Manag Res. 2025 Aug;43(8):1286-1300. doi: 10.1177/0734242X241302450. Epub 2024 Dec 8.
Plastic pollution has been identified as one of the most pressing environmental issues of the 21st century, driven by excessive consumption and inadequate plastic waste management. This issue is particularly reflected in short lifespan of plastic products, particularly plastic packaging within the food and beverage (F&B) industry. Urgent and relevant policy actions are needed to promote plastic circularity and improve waste management practices. Developing countries such as Montenegro face significant challenges in managing plastic waste flows due to legal, institutional and infrastructural gaps. This research addresses these challenges by employing material flow analysis (MFA) and advanced techniques like artificial neural networks to estimate the quantities and types of plastic packaging used in the F&B sector in Montenegro. The findings reveal that over 21,300 tonnes of F&B plastic packaging were placed on the market in Montenegro in 2018. Approximately 11% of this amount ends up directly littered in the environment or dumpsites, whereas the remaining 89% is predominantly collected and deposited in controlled landfills. Detailed MFA models were developed separately for the eight most common polymer types used in the F&B sector, along with specific models for plastic bags and polyethene terephthalate bottles to explore closed-loop recycling systems. It was found that only a small fraction of all analysed types of plastic packaging placed on the market can be effectively treated and recycled. This research contributes to the understanding of plastic waste management in Montenegro and facilitates the formulation of effective strategies to mitigate plastic pollution in the F&B industry.
塑料污染已被确认为21世纪最紧迫的环境问题之一，其成因是过度消费和塑料废物管理不善。这个问题尤其体现在塑料制品的使用寿命较短，特别是食品和饮料（F&B）行业的塑料包装。需要采取紧急且相关的政策行动来促进塑料循环利用并改善废物管理做法。像黑山这样的发展中国家由于法律、制度和基础设施方面的差距，在管理塑料废物流方面面临重大挑战。本研究通过采用物质流分析（MFA）以及人工神经网络等先进技术，来估算黑山食品和饮料行业使用的塑料包装的数量和类型，从而应对这些挑战。研究结果显示，2018年黑山有超过21300吨的食品和饮料塑料包装投放市场。其中约11%最终直接散落于环境或垃圾场，而其余89%主要被收集并存放于受控垃圾填埋场。针对食品和饮料行业使用的八种最常见聚合物类型分别开发了详细的物质流分析模型，同时还针对塑料袋和聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯瓶开发了特定模型，以探索闭环回收系统。研究发现，投放市场的所有分析类型的塑料包装中，只有一小部分能够得到有效处理和回收利用。本研究有助于了解黑山的塑料废物管理情况，并促进制定有效策略以减轻食品和饮料行业的塑料污染。
