Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile

Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2018.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sekhri, Prerna
Other Authors: Roberto Rigobon.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118522
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author Sekhri, Prerna
author2 Roberto Rigobon.
author_facet Roberto Rigobon.
Sekhri, Prerna
author_sort Sekhri, Prerna
collection MIT
description Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2018.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1185222022-01-12T20:23:16Z Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile Costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile Sekhri, Prerna Roberto Rigobon. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering and Management Program Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program. System Design and Management Program Engineering and Management Program. Integrated Design and Management Program. Thesis: S.M. in Engineering and Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2018. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 94-104). Cities and peri-urban areas are disproportionately large producers of solid waste in an increasingly landfilled world with plastic-choked oceans. Managing waste sustainably remains a challenge, and an expensive one, often comprising 20%-50% of municipal budgets. In the last 25 years, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has emerged as an environmental policy approach in which a producer's responsibility for a product is extended to throughout its lifecycle, beyond the point of sale to the post-consumer stage. This thesis analyzes the effects of soon-to-be implemented EPR in Chile. Using packaged beverage PET bottles as a case study, it models the per-bottle cost of implementing EPR. The thesis explores the effect of EPR on the recycled PET market and its main substitute and competition virgin PET. It also considers how might EPR's implementation incorporate Chile's informal waste picking labor force. It proposes an integrated waste management system that connects "smart" (loT) delivery points, base-recycler-facing mobile-phone applications, and producers', retailers, and recyclers' inventory systems on an integrated public permission blockchain that tracks the flow of products, and measures and rewards every agent's contribution to proper waste management in a transparent, reliable, and groundbreaking way. Such an application of a blockchain does not yet exist and could prove to be an effective and empowering technology for implementing EPR. by Prerna Sekhri. S.M. in Engineering and Management 2018-10-15T20:23:39Z 2018-10-15T20:23:39Z 2018 2018 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118522 1054909598 eng MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 104 pages application/pdf s-cl--- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Engineering and Management Program.
Integrated Design and Management Program.
Sekhri, Prerna
Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile
title Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile
title_full Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile
title_fullStr Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile
title_full_unstemmed Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile
title_short Harvesting the plastic we have sowed : costs and challenges in, and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in Chile
title_sort harvesting the plastic we have sowed costs and challenges in and a novel application of blockchain for implementing extended producer responsibility in chile
topic Engineering and Management Program.
Integrated Design and Management Program.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/118522
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