The Effect of Innovation on Plastic Packaging Waste Generation in the European Union: Does Economic Growth Matter?

The Effect of Innovation on Plastic Packaging Waste Generation in the European Union: Does Economic Growth Matter? | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Effect of Innovation on Plastic Packaging Waste Generation in the European Union: Does Economic Growth Matter? Desmond Alfred Peprah, Daniel Ofori-Sasu, Andrew Asante This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8798786/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Despite innovation being widely promoted as the cornerstone of the circular economy and sustainable growth, plastic packaging waste generation continues to increase in many advanced economies. This study examines the effect of economic growth on the relationship between innovation and plastic waste generation. We employed the dynamic system GMM and Driscoll-Kraay standard error estimators for a dataset of 27 European Union countries over the period 2014-2023. The results show that innovation reduces the generation of plastic packaging waste. Furthermore, the results of the interaction reveal that economic growth amplifies the negative effect in the innovation-plastic waste generation nexus, although generations are heterogeneous across low- and high-generation economies. Thus, policymakers need to develop innovation-based strategies, circular-resource policies, and sustainable growth models to reduce plastic waste pollution in the context of the European Union. Innovation Economic Growth Plastic Packaging Waste Generation Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8798786","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":591131135,"identity":"48603c9b-764b-4b34-9edc-20f6a03281f8","order_by":0,"name":"Desmond Alfred Peprah","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAyElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBADHn4QmVBAghYZyQaQFgMStNgYHABRxGgxZ+89/OlGxR0e4/OrEz88MGCQ5xc7gF+LZc+5NOmcM894zG683SwBdJjhzNkJ+LUY3MgxY85tOwzUcnYDSEuCwW1CWu6/Mf4M0mI84+zmH8RpucFjIA3SYsDfu404Wyx78kB+OcwjcYN3m0WCgQRhv5iznz38OafisD1//9nNN39U2MjzSxNyGAMPlCUBVimBXzmqFv4DhFWPglEwCkbByAQA5zdEkcM8w10AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ghana","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Desmond","middleName":"Alfred","lastName":"Peprah","suffix":""},{"id":591131141,"identity":"fc1aa832-634a-470c-aa64-a7ce90a0e0a8","order_by":1,"name":"Daniel Ofori-Sasu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ghana","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Daniel","middleName":"","lastName":"Ofori-Sasu","suffix":""},{"id":591131144,"identity":"77e1d8b1-991f-4be7-b678-f960cd78af2d","order_by":2,"name":"Andrew Asante","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Pardubice","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Andrew","middleName":"","lastName":"Asante","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-05 15:23:28","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8798786/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8798786/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":106267212,"identity":"623ab1ab-4a3e-4d5a-8a89-15179dcdcb7a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-07 01:25:35","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":423089,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Plasticpackagingweastemanuscrip.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8798786/v1_covered_e56c972c-8b5b-44ad-a54c-44f01435d642.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eThe Effect of Innovation on Plastic Packaging Waste Generation in the European Union: Does Economic Growth Matter?\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Innovation, Economic Growth, Plastic Packaging Waste Generation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8798786/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8798786/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eDespite innovation being widely promoted as the cornerstone of the circular economy and sustainable growth, plastic packaging waste generation continues to increase in many advanced economies. 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