Ranking Sri Lanka among the World’s Top Mismanaged Waste Polluters: Does Model Data Change the Story?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper covers an important topic and relevant conclusions are achieved for other case studies. The authors estimated the amounts of waste generated by countries using globally available data layers and/or empirical surveys. Unlike globally available metadata, MPW estimates based on empirical surveys allow for better visualization of amounts, potential pathways, and hotspots. Nevertheless, some changes should be taken into account before being considered for publication, namely:

·       I think in the abstract more Regulation achievements could be added;

·       In the keywords, the word “ranking” could be included;

·       The introduction can be improved. The authors must highlight the novelty and contributions to the literature;

·       Highlight the importance of sustainability (Cruz et al, 2014 and Ferreira et al. 2017);

·       It would be relevant to include a paragraph in the end of the introduction presenting the organization of the paper;

·       All the abbreviations must be presented in the text;

·       More information can be provided about the case study (population density, GDP per capita, …);

·       All sources of information must be included in the text;

·       It would be important to include some insights of the authors about the potential of technological improvement in the waste sector;

·       Explain how regulation can play a mayor role in the development of the sector;

·       The limitations of the study and future research can be highlighted in the conclusions;

·       More recommendations for decision makers were expected in the conclusions;

·       The references must be in line with author guidelines (for example, some issues are missing).

 

References:

FERREIRA, S.; CABRAL, M; DA CRUZ, N.; SIMÕES, P.; MARQUES, R.  (2017). The costs and benefits of packaging waste management systems in Europe: The perspective of local authorities. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. Routledge. ISSN: 0964-0568. Vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 773-791.

CRUZ, N.; FERREIRA, S.; CABRAL, M.; SIMÕES, P.; MARQUES, R. (2014). Packaging waste recycling in Europe: is the industry paying for it? Waste Management. Elsevier. ISSN: 0956-053X. Vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 298-308.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

     

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments on submitted article to J Sustainability 2021, 13, x. https://doi.org/10.3390/xxxxx by R.R.M.K.P.

Ranking Sri Lanka among the world’s top mismanaged waste polluters: Does model data change the story?

 Ranatunga, Dilhara Wijetunge, W.V.P.H. Ranaweera , Chin-Chang Hung , Shang-Yin Vanson Liu , Qamar Schuyler , T.J. Lawson and Britta Denise Hardesty

In the paper focus is the output of a Sri Lankan Conference on the country’s plastic pollution, the international, global mismanaged synthetic or semi-synthetic polymers, plastic waste (MPW) problem, considered out of an island perspective and claimed, concluded is: model predictions should not only be backed on unbiased designed surveys. Proposed is the use of robust global metadata, the more because the global production of plastics reached 370 million tons with lifespans between 1-50 years and Asia seen with 51% as world’s largest producer, headed by China with 31%,  in this paper and by others reported (for example Avalon Diggle A,  Walker TR.( 2022) Environmental and Economic Impacts of Mismanaged Plastics and Measures for Mitigation Environments  9, 15 https://doi.org/10.3390/environments90 20015).

The by worldwide estimates mismanaged MPW, blaming Sri Lanka as top polluter, is discussed in the Sri Lankan reality predicting their weakness and the submitted study tries by summarizing several collection events and MPW size measurements by using imaging  software, Fourier-Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopy to validate the polymer types broken to get a clearer picture of the Sri Lankan situation. The mismanagement of plastic materials is of mounting global pollution concern, related to unsustainable production and consumption paradigms, transboundary ecological, social, and economic impacts, in spite of necessitated numerous methods of government intervention.

The by high rates and volumes of plastic waste generation globalized posed multifaceted dilemmas started around 100 years ago with the on crude naphtha basis technical N₂ fixation (TNF) and MPW invention by Haber and Bosch (Ramani K, Uddin M, Swathi KV, Muneeswari R, Thanmaya M (2021) Recent advances in understanding the role of wastewater treatment processes for the removal of plastic derived nitrogen compounds in municipal landfill leachate Soil and Recycling Management in the Anthropocene Era, Environmental Sciences, SpringerNature, Heidelberg,  pp 1-26) and is for Sri Lanka discussed tourism, income dependent and in comparison with economic similar structured countries and the worldwide situation by ending in the conclusion that our heavy reliance on model predictions on globally available data layers needs to be rectified by actual on-ground collected information.

The interesting aspect the paper is  discussing should be published, my  recommendation, the paper is in a well-to-understand style written and adds clearly insult to the worldwide MPW injury.

 

 

Author Response

We really appreciate the very positive comments made by the reviewer, which is very encouraging. 

We do not see anything that needs to be addressed to the reviewer

     

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see the attachment

     

Author Response File: Author Response.doc

Reviewer 4 Report

After reviewing the article entitled " Ranking Sri Lanka among the world’s top mismanaged waste polluters: Does model data change the story? ", but publication point of view some modification is necessary.

1-      Clarify the objectives of the study in the introduction section. It is better that explain more about the novelty of the manuscript in the introduction section.

2-  The abstract should give brief information about the aims, findings, methods, and results of the research conducted in the article at a glance.

3-      Data may be demonstrated using figures, if appropriate.

4-      Show abiotic aspects of marine litter pollution in Sri Lanka.

5-      Show the global distribution, composition, and abundance of marine litter.

6-      Illustration, modeling the role of marine litter or/and microplastics in the bioaccumulation of organic chemicals to marine aquatic organisms.

7-      What is the economics of marine litter?

 

8-      What is the contribution of citizen scientists to the monitoring of marine litter?

Author Response

Please see the attachment

The English language was checked by two of our native English-speaking coauthors (QS and BDH).

     

Author Response File: Author Response.doc