ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a particular case study sector within the traditional waste management focus of circular economy transitions: plastics. We discuss the rivalling views of plastic wastes as pollution and as a resource to provide a gateway for understanding wherefrom the complexity of the governance of plastics within circular economy arises. We argue that the resource v. pollution tensions of plastic wastes confuse the alignment of bottom-up and top-down legal and policy approaches to achieving circularity, as well as give rise to justice issues within the plastics sector. These challenges are drawn out through using the informal recycling sector and industrial symbiosis as examples of bottom-up plastic waste management initiatives, and through highlighting some recent developments within international and national top-down governance of plastic wastes.
