-->PONE-D-25-23611-->-->Challenges and opportunities for plastic versus mixed waste enterprises in Greater Accra and Kisumu: a qualitative study-->-->PLOS ONE

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[The work was undertaken through the ‘Expanding safe water and waste management service access to off-grid populations in Africa’ project, funded through UKRI Collective award via the Global Challenges Research Fund (ref: ES/T008121/1). The support of the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged.].

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[MD is academic representative on Ghana’s National Technical Working Group on Sanitation, which informs solid waste management policy. The other authors declare no competing interests.].

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

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1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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-->5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: Reviewers comment

The article examines the "Challenges and opportunities for plastic versus mixed waste enterprises in Greater Accra and Kisumu: a qualitative study," focusing on challenges faced by key waste collection groups. The foundations of the study are enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals and the AU Agenda 2063. Its context is relevant for Africa, establishing a stronger basis for improving plastic/waste recycling in the region.

The manuscript demonstrates a robust methodological framework, engages in nuanced discussions, and offers valuable insights pertinent to both academic circles and industry professionals, among other stakeholders.

Specific comments:

1.The section on abstract:

The abstract presents a concise write-up about the topic. The background, objective and results of the study are summarised well. Although this seems to be sufficient, the following comments are suggested.

•The role of formal-informal SWM collectors towards plastic waste collection is missing. This should be highlighted (in line 19) to establish a linkage and a stronger basis for the study. A more logical order will be: Who handles plastics? What challenges are they facing?

•How many participants participated in each focus group?

2.The section on introduction:

The authors have provided an extensive background to the study and supported this with adequate literature. However, the sections look disjointed and verbose. The introduction could be shortened and more direct. It is recommended that the sections are re-ordered to ensure a chronology of the study’s background. This chronology could be interspersed or adopted: What is the global SWM (as already established in Lines 39 to 49), who are the actors of SWM, what are their specific roles in SWM, what is their socio-economic motivation, what research gaps remain in their specific role vis-à-vis plastic waste recycling?

3.The section on study sites:

•How much plastic waste/recyclables is generated in Ghana

•Line 123,…and processed waste. Introduce “and”

•Authors may consider including a map of the study areas

•The authors may consider including information on the number of registered members of the SWM associations, the number of waste management companies, the number of recycling companies, among others.

4.The section on methodology: The methodology discussed is robust and reproducible. This gives credence to the data collected.

5.The section on Results and Discussion:

The results and discussions are well presented. The following modifications should be considered

•Line 290 to 29 Confirm if the requested amount is GHS30 or 300

•The dollar equivalent should be highlighted in brackets.

•Line 301 to 302 Modify the sentence…but before we you get… (we and you appear together)

•Under Table 5, under Kisumu SWM groups line 2, intermediaries should be formatted in terms of font and font size

•Maintain consistency in font size and type (sentence case, capitalisation) across all tables

•Line 458 to 462 How does this finding compare with other studies in the region or globally

•Authors should examine the influence of security agencies on collectors, particularly regarding the collection of illegal monies, intimidation, and its effects on (de)motivation for waste collectors.

•Line 535 provide a space between references and “chains”

6.The section on Conclusion: The conclusions and recommendations are sufficient.

Reviewer #2: I enjoyed reading the manuscript by Hornuvo et al., which describes the challenges and opportunities associated with plastic and mixed waste enterprise in the Greater Accra and Kisumu areas. I must admit that it is not the usual manuscript style I encounter, but I find it informative and helpful nonetheless.

I don't have many comments for the authors. As mentioned above, the manuscript style is somewhat different, but I don't think it diminishes its value. I just have a couple of small suggestions. First, I recommend using consistent precision across all tables. Currently, some columns have precision to one digit while others do not.

Additionally, please double-check the initials from lines 182 to 187. I am not sure if these are the initials of the authors or not. If they are, please ensure consistency.

Lastly, Table 5 has a different font style compared to all the other tables. Please standardize the font style for uniformity.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: Comments.pdf

-->PONE-D-25-23611R1-->-->Challenges and opportunities for plastic versus mixed waste enterprises in Greater Accra and Kisumu: a qualitative study-->-->PLOS One

Dear Dr. Wright,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.-->--> -->-->Reviewer 1 has some additional minor comments and I also secured a further reviewer to ensure a full rigorous review, and they have some minor comments too. -->-->

Please submit your revised manuscript by May 02 2026 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org. When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:-->

• A letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

-->If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols. Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Alison Parker

Academic Editor

PLOS One

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

-->Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.-->

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

**********

-->2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented. -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously? -->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

Reviewer #3: N/A

**********

-->4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.-->

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

-->6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)-->

Reviewer #1: Line 21 and 22 “The informal sector often fills gaps in plastic waste collection and recovery that are not met by formal SWM..”

There are two full stops at the end.

Line 65-66 Mismanaged solid waste, including plastics, therefore accumulates in the

environment, especially in off-grid areas..

There are two full stops at the end.

Table 5 Under all the headings, particularly in the rows, some of the writings have been left in sentence cases, while some are completely left in lowercase. There should be consistency in the writing; For example, “Competition from unregulated mixed waste collectors” versus “occupational health risks.” The first instance starts with a capital “C” while the second starts with a lower case “O”. This inconsistency runs throughout the table on pages 23 and 24.

Reviewer #2: The authors have adequately addressed my comments. I do not have any additional comments for the authors.

Reviewer #3: Comments from the first submission have been revised and updated appropriately in the current manuscript. I, have however added few comments in track changes.

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-->7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

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Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.-->

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes: Brighton Austin Chunga

**********

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-25-23611_R1_Comments.pdf

Challenges and opportunities for plastic versus mixed waste enterprises in Greater Accra and Kisumu: a qualitative study

PONE-D-25-23611R2

Dear Dr. Wright,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Alison Parker

Academic Editor

PLOS One

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

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