Webinar of Dr Patrice GUILLOTREAU et Dr Katrin PERCHAT

February 14th 2024

Quantifying plastic use and waste footprints through an environmentally-extended input-output analysis (EEIOA). Two applications in the Seychelles and Côte d'Ivoire

Home institution: IRD, MARBEC, Sète, France & Yes Consulting, Victoria, Seychelles

Synopsis

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are the most vulnerable territories to marine litter and plastic waste pollution. The magnitude of the issue and ways of action can only be known if the material flows and their origins are correctly estimated. Unfortunately, small territories are often left outside the global ecological footprint databases and models. The present research aims at quantifying the plastic footprint of Seychelles through a standard Environmentally-Extended Input-Output Analysis (EEIOA) and a multi- regional input-output (MRIO) approach combining international and domestic data in the south-west Indian Ocean region. The results of several model specifications and industrial classifications are compared to the literature findings and show that SIDS may display the same level of plastic use and waste per capita as high-income countries, without the same infrastructure of waste treatment. A few services and exporting sectors concentrate the bulk of the territorial quantity of plastics used throughout the economy. The multi-regional Indian Ocean context helps to foresee potential joint actions in order to reduce the plastic footprint of SIDS. Another original (yet unpublished) application based on a similar framework is proposed in Côte d'Ivoire, showing a totally different context where the level of plastic production and trade has dramatically increased over the past two decades.

Reference

Guillotreau, P., Antoine, S., Kante, F., & Perchat, K. (2023). Quantifying plastic use and wastefootprints in SIDS: application to Seychelles. Journal of Cleaner Production, 417, 138018.

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