Global recycling networks and the Sustainable Development Goals

This chapter explores connections between global recycling networks and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By comparing and contrasting the theoretical approaches of global value chain analysis, global production networks, and global destruction networks, the chapter develops a new theoretical framework for explaining the sustainability aspects of global recycling networks. This theoretical framework is applied to the case of global clothing, plastic, and electronic waste recycling networks to critically evaluate how such recycling networks may help or undermine the achievement of the SDGs. The chapter's main findings show that though recycling processes have benign effects within the above industries on human health and the health of the environment, they also have negative impacts that hamper the achievement of the above SDGs. The conclusion draws out future research and policy implications of this analysis, offering a hopeful direction for future sustainability research.