Laya Pothunuri

Reimagining plastic waste in the Galápagos: Assessing localized circular economy models for conservation

The Galápagos Islands, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, face an intensifying burden of plastic pollution that threatens both biodiversity and community resilience. Despite global agreements aimed at reducing production, implementation delays have left local actors managing rising waste under fragile and fragmented governance. Research and policy have overwhelmingly concentrated on marine debris, leaving land-based plastic management and the scope for locally grounded solutions critically underexplored.

This dissertation examines the potential of circular economy (CE) approaches to address this gap, focusing on small-scale reuse and repurposing initiatives in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz. A systems thinking approach was used to map plastic flows and governance dynamics, supported by field observations and 18 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders spanning government, NGOs, businesses, and community actors. Stakeholder and value mapping provided further insight into how benefits and burdens are distributed, revealing overlooked actors, coordination gaps, and leverage points for change.

Findings indicate that CE holds promise as an interim, community-driven response but remains constrained by weak coordination, limited material access, and the marginalisation of grassroots innovators from formal decision-making. Education and awareness emerged as structural levers, shaping the feasibility and legitimacy of interventions, while conservation identity reinforced resilience within community practice. The study also assessed the enabling conditions and risks that underpin implementation, highlighting the importance of adoption, coordination, and cultural meaning over purely technical or policy-led solutions.

By combining comparative insights from other remote islands with grounded stakeholder perspectives, this dissertation contributes an empirical evidence base for conservation-aligned circularity in the Galápagos. More broadly, it illustrates how CE approaches, when designed as place-based and stakeholder-driven, can inform transitions in other ecologically sensitive, resource-constrained island contexts.