Increased global plastic consumption and production boosted the amount of end-of-life (EoL) plastic. Also, 90 % of plastic EoL is either landfilled or incinerated. These unsustainable EoL pathways impact the environment and human health and waste valuable materials. Thus, improvements to the existing recycling infrastructure for sustainable plastic management are needed to enhance plastic circularity. Therefore, this contribution addresses optimizing cost-effective pathways for plastic recycling within the supply chain. The research uses mathematical optimization and the P-graph theoretical framework to calculate recycling costs, encompassing both capital expenditure and operational expenditure for various pathways of plastic recycling. The proposed methodology is applied through a detailed case study in Miskolc, Hungary, revealing estimated recycling costs ranging from 54.9 to 59.28 EUR/ton. This finding provides crucial insights into the economic implications of diverse recycling methods. Also, the study highlights the P-graph model's untapped potential as a resource for decision-makers in plastic recycling, particularly the enumeration of options for further consideration. The work's utility and novelty lie in the model's capability to design cost-effective pathways, offering a tangible contribution to the plastic recycling supply chain. Finally, this contribution offers economic solutions needed to ensure cost-effective sustainable plastic management solutions.

The Trans-Atlantic Research and Development Interchanges on Sustainability is a comprehensive foundational look at sustainability science, developed directly from the outcomes and learnings of the Trans-Atlantic Research and Development Interchanges on Sustainability (TARDIS) workshop that has been ongoing since 2004. The book brings together the most thorough recent advances in concepts, theories, methods, models and applications to steer the course towards a sustainable and resilient future. It provides a source of information on sustainability science directly from the experiences of global sustainability scientists and their research data not found elsewhere. This book will be an all-encompassing source of information on all aspects of sustainability science for academics, researchers and students in sustainability science and any applicable science that takes sustainability into account.