The potential benefits of mixed

2022.07.31
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The potential benefits of mixed

The potential benefits of mixed plastics recycling in terms of resource efficiency, diversion from landfill and emission savings, are very high when one considers the fact that in the UK it is estimated that there is over one million tonne per annum of non-bottle plastic packaging (WRAP 2008a) in comparison with 525 000 tonnes of plastic bottle waste (WRAP 2007). Plastics are inexpensive, lightweight and durable materials, which can readily be moulded into a variety of products that find use in a wide range of applications. A recent LCA specifically for PET bottle manufacture calculated that use of 100 per cent recycled PET instead of 100 per cent virgin PET would reduce the full life-cycle emissions from 446 to 327 g CO2 per bottle, resulting in a 27 per cent relative reduction in emissions (WRAP 2008e). There are also environmental and health concerns associated with their emissions. 12 0 obj PET resin can be broken down by glycolysis, methanolysis or hydrolysis, for example to make unsaturated polyester resins (Sinha et al. Most current material recovery facilities have difficulty handling flexible plastic packaging because of the different handling characteristics of rigid packaging. endobj 15 0 obj There is increasing public awareness on the need for sustainable production and consumption. A well-managed landfill site results in limited immediate environmental harm beyond the impacts of collection and transport, although there are long-term risks of contamination of soils and groundwater by some additives and breakdown by-products in plastics, which can become persistent organic pollutants (Oehlmann et al. It has been noted that participating in recycling schemes is an environmental behaviour that has wide participation among the general population and was 57 per cent in the UK in a 2006 survey (WRAP 2008d), and 80 per cent in an Australian survey where kerbside collection had been in place for longer (NEPC 2001). %%EOF

considerable variability in energy, water and emissions from recycling processes as it is a developing industry and affected by efficiency of collection, process type and product mix, etc.

2009b, Fig 1). A major challenge for producing recycled resins from plastic wastes is that most different plastic types are not compatible with each other because of inherent immiscibility at the molecular level, and differences in processing requirements at a macro-scale. The useful energy recovered can vary considerably depending on whether it is used for electricity generation, combined heat and power, or as solid refuse fuel for co-fuelling of blast furnaces or cement kilns. The amount of material going into the waste-management system can, in the first case, be reduced by actions that decrease the use of materials in products (e.g. <>/Border[0 0 0]/P 3 0 R>> The effectiveness of post-consumer packaging recycling could be dramatically increased if the diversity of materials were to be rationalized to a subset of current usage. Terminology for plastics recycling is complex and sometimes confusing because of the wide range of recycling and recovery activities (table2). In Japan, for example, the excavation that is necessary for landfill is expensive because of the hard nature of the underlying volcanic bedrock; while in the Netherlands it is costly because of permeability from the sea. This thinking is the basis of the 4Rs strategy in waste management parlancein the order of decreasing environmental desirabilityreduce, reuse, recycle (materials) and recover (energy), with landfill as the least desirable management strategy. Technological advances in recycling can improve the economics in two main waysby decreasing the cost of recycling (productivity/efficiency improvements) and by closing the gap between the value of recycled resin and virgin resin. Conversely, there is limited recycling of multi-layer/multi-component articles because these result in contamination between polymer types. A., Moloney C. L.2009, Monitoring the abundance of plastic debris in the marine environment, Structuring policy problems for plastics, the environment and human health: reflections from the UK, PET waste management by chemical recycling: a review, Song J. H., Murphy R. J., Narayan R., Davies G. B. H.2009, Biodegradable and compostable alternatives to conventional plastics, Degradable polymers and plastics in landfill sites, Transport and release of chemicals from plastics to the environment and to wildlife, Thompson R. C., Swan S. H., Moore C. J., vom Saal F. S.2009a, Thompson R. C., Moore C. J., vom Saal F. S., Swan S. H.2009b, Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends, Flakes-to-resin (FTR)recycling with FDA approval, Eco-efficiency: creating more value with less impact, Container deposits: the common sense approach v.2.1, WRAP food grade HDPE recycling process: commercial feasibility study, Annual local authorities Plastics Collection Survey 2007, Domestic mixed plastics packaging: waste management options, Large-scale demonstration of viability of recycled PET (rPET) in retail packaging, LCA of management options for mixed waste plastics, Local authorities Plastics Collection Survey, Study reveals carbon impact of bottling Australian wine in the UK in PET and glass bottles, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Plastics, the environment and human health, http://www.bpf.co.uk/Oil_Consumption.aspx, http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/waste/strategy/factsheets/landfilltax.htm, http://www.ephc.gov.au/ephc/plastic_bags.html, http://www.environ.ie/en/Environment/Waste/PlasticBags, http://www.grrn.org/beverage/refillables/Europe.html, http://www.wbcsd.org/includes/getTarget.asp?type=d&id=ODkwMQ, http://www.wrap.org.uk/retail/case_studies_research/rpet_retail.html, http://www.wrap.org.uk/wrap_corporate/news/study_reveals_carbon.html, high with natural HDPE bottles, but more complex for opaque bottles and trays because of wide variety of grades and colour and mixtures with LDPE and PP, poor recovery because of cross-contamination with PET, poor recovery rates, mostly as mixed polyolefins that can have sufficient properties for some applications. You can download the paper by clicking the button above. This has encouraged local authorities to organize collection of recyclables, encouraged some manufacturers to develop products with recycled content, and other businesses to supply this public demand. Coupled with efforts to increase the use and specification of recycled grades as replacement of virgin plastic, recycling of waste plastics is an effective way to improve the environmental performance of the polymer industry. Once material enters the waste stream, recycling is the process of using recovered material to manufacture a new product. Landfill is the conventional approach to waste management, but space for landfills is becoming scarce in some countries. 8 0 obj ~oq%bRSAdG,f'HBw b vC(Y*:8 . - Terminology used in different types of plastics recycling and recovery. Because plastics have only been mass-produced for around 60 years, their longevity in the environment is not known with certainty. The plastics industry has developed considerably since the invention of various routes for the production of polymers from petrochemical sources. Garforth A., Ali S., Hernandez-Martinez J., Akah A.2004, Production, distribution, and fate of polycholorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, and related organohalogens in the environment, Environmental implications of plastic debris in marine settingsentanglement, ingestion, smothering, hangers-on, hitch-hiking and alien invasions, Western Europe's experience with refillable beverage containers, Biodegradation of agricultural plastic films: a critical review, Use of froth flotation to separate PVC/PET mixtures, Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things, Recycling versus incineration: an energy conservation analysis, Report to the NEPC on the implementation of the National Environment Protection (used packaging materials) measure for New South Wales, A critical analysis of the biological impacts of plasticizers on wildlife, PVC removal from mixed plastics by triboelectrostatic separation, Patel M., von Thienen N., Jochem E., Worrell E.2000, A life cycle assessment of mechanical and feedstock recycling options for management of plastic packaging wastes, Eco-profiles of the European Plastics Industry, The compelling facts about Plastics 2007: an analysis of plastics production, demand and recovery for 2007 in Europe, Plastic waste management in construction: technological and institutional issues, Ryan P. G., Moore C. J., van Franeker J. In 2003, however, this still amounted to only 14.8 per cent of the waste plastic generated (from all sources). As an example, in the UK, since 2005 most PET sheet for thermoforming contains 5070% recycled PET (rPET) through use of A/B/A layer sheet where the outer layers (A) are food-contact-approved virgin resin, and the inner layer (B) is rPET. Some governments use policy to encourage post-consumer recycling, such as the EU Directive on packaging and packaging waste (94/62/EC). In addition, because of the durability of the polymers involved, substantial quantities of discarded end-of-life plastics are accumulating as debris in landfills and in natural habitats worldwide. One contribution of 15 to a Theme Issue Plastics, the environment and human health. Hence, wider implementation of policies to promote the use of environmental design principles by industry could have a large impact on recycling performance, increasing the proportion of packaging that can economically be collected and diverted from landfill (see Shaxson et al. Other sorting technologies include X-ray detection, which is used for separation of PVC containers, which are 59 per cent chlorine by weight and so can be easily distinguished (Arvanitoyannis & Bosnea 2001; Fisher 2003). <>/Border[0 0 0]/P 3 0 R>> Life-cycle analyses has also been used for plastic-recycling systems to evaluate the net environmental impacts (Arena et al.

Growth in collection of plastic bottles, by bring and kerbside schemes in the UK (WRAP 2008d). The low weight-to-volume ratio of films and plastic bags also makes it less economically viable to invest in the necessary collection and sorting facilities. Hence, the general trend is for collection of recyclable materials through kerbside collection alongside MSW. There may be other environmental costs or benefits of any such alternative material usage, but these are a distraction to our discussion of the benefits of recycling and would need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Even when a plastic item degrades under the influence of weathering, it first breaks down into smaller pieces of plastic debris, but the polymer itself may not necessarily fully degrade in a meaningful timeframe. 7 0 obj Bethesda, MD 20894, Web Policies However, biodegradable plastics also have the potential to complicate waste management when introduced without appropriate technical attributes, handling systems and consumer education. Collection of plastic wastes can be done by bring-schemes or through kerbside collection.

In rural areas bring schemes where the public deliver their own waste for recycling, for example when they visit a nearby town, are considered more cost-effective than kerbside collection. In some instances recovered plastic that is not suitable for recycling into the prior application is used to make a new plastic product displacing all, or a proportion of virgin polymer resinthis can also be considered as primary recycling. As the manufacture of plastics also requires energy, its production is responsible for the consumption of a similar additional quantity of fossil fuels. Quaternary recycling is energy recovery, energy from waste or valorization. However, if plastics are recycled into products that were previously made from other materials such as wood or concrete, then savings in requirements for polymer production will not be realized (Fletcher & Mackay 1996). hbbd``b`QL tH* Hp ;w. ";@g`bdHW jK Improvements in sorting/separation within recycling plants give further potential for both higher recycling volumes, and better eco-efficiency by decreasing waste fractions, energy and water use (see 3).