Circular Plastics Economy

Pooja Ghosh did her Masters in Environmental Biology from University of Delhi, India followed by her doctorate in Environmental Microbiology and Biotechnology from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. Her doctoral work involved risk assessment of landfill leachate from unengineered landfill sites and its treatment and detoxification. It contributed significantly in aiding policymakers, environmentalists, scientists, students, and most importantly, citizens, in realizing the problem of unengineered landfill sites of India. Currently, she is working as a DST-Inspire Faculty at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India and carrying out her post-doctoral research on energy recovery from municipal solid wastes using bioreactor landfill technology and assessing the environmental profiles and greenhouse gas emissions in the bioreactor landfill and comparing it with the alternative waste management options used in India using Life Cycle Assessment methodology. Her broad research interests include Solid waste management, Bioremediation, Wastewater treatment, Toxicology, Life cycle assessment and sustainability. She has published in over 20 peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, being cited 385 times with an h index of 11 and an i10 index of 12. She is a reviewer of Bioresource Technology, Science of the total environment, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, Chemosphere and Journal of Environmental Management. Dr. Victor Carrasco Navarro conducted MSc studies in Chemistry Sciences at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain between 1994 and 2001. In 2007, he moved to the University of Eastern Finland in Joensuu to perform his PhD, which he obtained in 2013. His thesis dealt with the bioaccumulation, biotransformation and trophic transfer of PAHs in freshwater organisms. As a post-doc, he has been working in projects related to the ecotoxicity of neonicotinoids and microplastics and recently has obtained significant funding to research about the fate of plastic additives in the freshwater environment. His research interests are the fate of chemicals and anthropogenic litter in the environment, including their distribution, potential degradation, and transformation. The impacts that tire rubber pollution may have caused to the environment is a subject very important in his research interests. Currently, he is collaborating with research institutions in Spain, US, UK and India. Dr. Sunil Kumar is a well-rounded researcher with more than 20 years of experience in leading, supervising and undertaking research in the broader field of Environmental Engineering and Science with focus on Solid and Hazardous Waste Management. He has contributed extensively to these fields and has h-index of 30 and i10-index of 43 (Google scholar); highly impressive for a non-academic researcher from India. His contributions since inception at CSIR-NEERI in 200 include 130 refereed journal publications, 04 books and 25 book chapters, 08 Edited volumes and numerous project reports to various governmental and private, local and International academic /research bodies. The list of his collaborations is long and includes key Indian universities, such as IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi and IIT Mumbai and prestigious regional institutes, such as Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and Kasetsart University in Bangkok, Hong Baptist University as well as universities in US (Columbia, Texas A&M) and Europe (UN University and University of Uppsala). Dr. Anna Lähde is an associate professor and leader of the Sustainable Materials Group at Fine Particle and Aerosol Technology Laboratory, Department of Environment and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland. She was the recipient of the prestigious Academy of Finland Research Fellowship in the year 2017. Her research is focused on the development of sustainable materials for clean air and water applications. The studies include formation, preparation and characterization of the sustainable nano- and micron-sized materials using sustainable precursors. Her research also includes the analysis and toxicological effects of these materials and airborne particles. In her recent studies, she has focused on the synthesis of novel materials including carbon structures and graphene, superparamagnetic particles (e.g. iron and iron oxides) and catalytic materials (Au, Co) using aerosol processes and induction annealing.Dr. Hanna Lehtimäki is a professor of Innovation Management in Business School and a Director of Research Center for Sustainable Circular Economy at the University of Finland. Her research examines circular economy with theoretical frameworks on strategic management, organization theory, leadership, and entrepreneurship. She and her research team advance transdisciplinary social sciences research and societal impact in sustainability transition. Her research articles have appeared in academic journals internationally and she has authored books on strategic management and leadership. She holds leader positions in research consortiums examining circular economy in Finland and India in connection to microplastics, battery metals, and electric mobility. In her capacity as a Vice Director of UEF strategic research community Sustainable Resource Society: Circular Economy, Energy and Raw Materials, (www.uef.fi/en/rc-resource), she advances multidisciplinary social sciences research agenda for sustainability transition in business and society.

• Section 1: Environmental issues related to plastic waste management1. Plastic pollution and microplastic contamination as a global grand challenge2. Chemical additives used in plastics and their risks3. Understanding the characteristics, sources, potential impacts, and removal efficiencies of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants4. Trophic transfer of microplastics and associated contaminants and human health risks5. Detection of micro-and nano-plastics in complex environmental matricesSection 2: Conventional and Emerging Technological solutions for plastic waste management6. Recent trends in reusing and recycling plastic waste7. Product designs for minimal use of plastics8. Pyrolysis and incineration for plastic waste management9. Landfilling of plastic wastes in developing countries10. Heterogeneous catalysis for valorization of plastic waste11. Biochar to remove micro-and nano-plastics12. Microbe-based degradation of micro-and nano-plasticsSection 3: Multidisciplinary perspectives on circular plastics economy13. Sustainability of bioplastics: A critique14. Life cycle assessment of plastic waste management technologies15. Social Scientists and offenders’ perspectives on circular economy of plastic waste in the Windhoek Correctional Service in Namibia: An Environmental Social Work Approach16. Business and societal perspectives on circular plastics economy17. Legal and policy environment for sustainable plastic circular economy18. From local initiatives to global sustainable solutions in plastic recycling