Plastic pollution is an archetypical global challenge, the complexity of which means that we still do not have a sufficient understanding of fundamental aspects – for example, the relative importance of its forms, sources, pathways, and receptors.  

Over the last decade, people have been developing models and methodologies to quantify the nature and magnitude of the challenge at hand. It is now clear that insufficient waste and resource management are a major component; and, that there cannot be a solution without building upon the informal recycling sector, across the Global South. In addition, a most damaging version of plastic pollution, that of open uncontrolled burning, associated with human health impacts and anthropogenic climate forcing, is emerging through our research as a fundamental aspect to be addressed.  

Do we have, however, scalable recycling solutions, suitable for the Global South, where most of the damage is done? As we speak, solely agenda or ideology-driven approaches could be risking our effectiveness in fighting plastic pollution in the decades to come.  

Quantification of plastic pollution, taking local conditions into account, can help us arrive at the most effective resource allocation, prioritizing actionable interventions, at local, national, and international levels, for both infrastructure and capacity building, having confidence that these are evidence-based and therefore highly likely to be effective. 

About the Speaker:

Dr. Costas Velis is a lecturer and an academic based at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, UK. Costas has been working across the world for a couple of decades advancing sound solid waste management, resource recovery, and circular economy. Recently, his team has contributed to many of the most influential works on waste and plastic pollution, with the plastics to ocean global model used in the rationale for the global treaty resolution, the OECD Global Plastics Outlook and the GIZ Waste Flow Diagram being the most widely practitioner applied method worldwide. Costas has led the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Task Force on Marine Litter for 5 years, and is now chairing the newly launched Community of Practice of UNEP GPML (Global Marine Litter and Plastic Pollution Partnership) on harmonisation of plastic pollution quantification models and methodologies. Published in Science and other world-leading journals and with multiple wastes to his research outputs. Costas is passionate about helping organizations, cities, countries, and the world to arrive at evidence-based and effective solutions to the global challenge of plastic pollution and sound circular waste management systems. Dr Velis holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Cranfield University, an MSc in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development from Imperial College London, and a BSc in Physics from the University of Athens, specializing in Environmental Physics.