Catalysing Environmental Action: a Governance Framework for Enhancing Individual Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa’s Plastic Circular Economy

Ambisisi Ambituuni; Olubunmi Ajala; Patrick Schroeder; Muyiwa Oyinlola

doi:10.1007/s00267-024-02044-7

Catalysing Environmental Action: a Governance Framework for Enhancing Individual Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa’s Plastic Circular Economy

Ambisisi Ambituuni
, Olubunmi Ajala
, Patrick Schroeder
, Muyiwa Oyinlola

University of Birmingham
Chatham House
De Montfort University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

41 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Plastic waste poses a significant challenge to achieving sustainable production and consumption of resources, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where effective governance and waste management systems are lacking. In this paper, we develop an empirical understanding of the influence of public governance system on promoting circular economy (CE) for plastic actions among individuals. Through a survey of 1475 participants across five sub-Saharan African countries, we tested five hypotheses drawing on New Governance Theory and CE Action Recipe to explore the relationship between governance and individual's actions supporting CE for plastic. We found that a governance system that supports CE practices and exhibits governance efficiency is positively associated with individuals' actions supporting CE for plastic. The awareness of government policies, laws and regulations, institutions, processes, and programmes have a significant impact on individuals' engagement in plastic circularity practices. The paper's theoretical and governance implications highlight the relevance of public governance in shaping action towards a CE for plastic at the individual level.

Original language	English
Article number	104917
Pages (from-to)	835-851
Number of pages	17
Journal	Environmental Management
Volume	75
Issue number	4
Early online date	17 Sept 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-024-02044-7
Publication status	Published - 1 Apr 2025

Bibliographical note

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Funder

This work was supported by the UKRI GCRF under Grant EP/T029846/1.

Funding

This work was supported by the UKRI GCRF under Grant EP/T029846/1.

Funders	Funder number
UK Research and Innovation	EP/T029846/1

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 12 Responsible Consumption and Production

Keywords

Circular economy
Plastic pollution
Action recipe
Public governance
Sub-Saharan Africa
Individual action

Access to Document

10.1007/s00267-024-02044-7Licence: CC BY

Ajala2024VoRFinal published version, 1.22 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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abstract = "Plastic waste poses a significant challenge to achieving sustainable production and consumption of resources, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa where effective governance and waste management systems are lacking. In this paper, we develop an empirical understanding of the influence of public governance system on promoting circular economy (CE) for plastic actions among individuals. Through a survey of 1475 participants across five sub-Saharan African countries, we tested five hypotheses drawing on New Governance Theory and CE Action Recipe to explore the relationship between governance and individual's actions supporting CE for plastic. We found that a governance system that supports CE practices and exhibits governance efficiency is positively associated with individuals' actions supporting CE for plastic. The awareness of government policies, laws and regulations, institutions, processes, and programmes have a significant impact on individuals' engagement in plastic circularity practices. The paper's theoretical and governance implications highlight the relevance of public governance in shaping action towards a CE for plastic at the individual level.",

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Catalysing Environmental Action: a Governance Framework for Enhancing Individual Participation in Sub-Saharan Africa’s Plastic Circular Economy

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funder

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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