Extended producer responsibility: How to unlock the environmental and economic potential of plastic packaging waste?

Bassi, Susanna Andreasi; Boldrin, Alessio; Faraca, Giorgia; Astrup, Thomas Fruergaard

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105030

Cited by 66 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…Besides trying to reduce the problem of management of plastic, it is also recommended that the methods for data collection must be improved, implementation of the polluter pays principle, banning substitutable, problematic materials, developing waste management plans for problematic materials (Elgie et al, 2021), implementation of stringent laws and strengthening legal measures, in-depth understanding of the marine litter (plastics), robust waste management strategies (Raha et al, 2021), and extending the producer responsibility (Andreasi Bassi et al, 2020). As possible ways to remove microplastics from waters, the literature advises the use of removal methods such as physical sorption and filtration, biological removal and ingestion, and chemical treatments (Padervand et al, 2020).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of plastic waste: A bibliometric mapping and analysis

Sousa

2021

Waste Manag Res

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This work aims to provide the first holistic and deep bibliometric mapping and analysis of the management of plastic waste. Data from the last five years were obtained from a Scopus database search. Relevant information on scientific production, contributions by country and institutions, sources, reference authors, and topic trends were obtained, being analysed using the VOSviewer and Bibliometrix R-package software programs. The results clearly have shown a significant increase in the number of publications over the years, depicting the great influence of the People’s Republic of China, since the most relevant authors, publications, and institutes are Chinese. Regarding the topic trends, there is a massive concern about plastic pollution, especially related to plastic in water bodies (mainly microplastics), and the socio-environmental problems which plastic may cause/aggravate, with recycling and the circular economy emerging as possible solutions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Management of plastic waste: A bibliometric mapping and analysis

Sousa

2021

Waste Manag Res

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“…While their virgin production costs are also higher and could offer an economic stimulus for recyclates, higher price levels are only justifiable by uncompromised properties. To significantly drive the circular plastics economy: availability issues need to be addressed, for example, by creating deposit–return systems, as has been established very successfully for PET bottles in many countries, [ 19 ] by tracking and tracing, better sorting, by designing applications for recycling as well as by promoting well‐designed extended producer responsibility systems; [ 20,21 ] recycling processes need to maintain or ideally even upgrade material performance to access similarly demanding applications in their second life. …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Frontier of Plastics Recycling: Rethinking Waste as a Resource for High‐Value Applications

Mangold

Vacano

2022

Macro Chemistry & Physics

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Following the circular economy hierarchy of reduce and reuse, recycling is the third layer to close the loops for materials and decouple their value from consumption. Polymeric materials ("plastics") are in principle well suited for recycling, as they can be reprocessed with relatively low energy input as a material, cleaved back into their monomers or converted back to feedstock. Today, these approaches still fall short in quantitatively diverting waste towards reuse. This perspective describes the industry challenges for recycling back into high value applications of polymers, and the portfolio of existing and emerging technology solutions. Sustainable design of products and polymers, recycling technologies, appropriate business models, and enabling technologies converge at the frontier of plastics recycling, for a transformation of the industry towards circularity and greenhouse gas emission neutrality.

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“…However, the recycling of plastic is hindered by several barriers, including high collection costs, a wide range of polymers with different properties, and the fact that plastic products are often designed with functionality in mind instead of end-of-life scenarios [4]. Recycling plastic is also not considered to be economically viable as a result of virgin plastic being cheaper than recycled plastic, and a lack of market demand for recycled plastic [4]. In fact, it is estimated that 95% of the value of plastic packaging material is lost already after the first use [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the Economic Viability of the Plastic Biorefinery Concept and Its Contribution to a More Circular Plastic Sector

Roux

Varrone

2021

Polymers

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It is widely accepted that plastic waste is one of the most urgent environmental concerns the world is currently facing. The emergence of bio-based plastics provides an opportunity to reduce dependency on fossil fuels and transition to a more circular plastics economy. For polyethylene terephthalate (PET), one of the most prevalent plastics in packaging and textiles, two bio-based alternatives exist that are similar or superior in terms of material properties and recyclability. These are polyethylene furanoate (PEF) and polytrimethylene terephthalate (PTT). The overarching aim of this study was to examine the transition from fossil-based to renewable plastics, through the lens of PET upcycling into PEF and PTT. The process for the production of PEF and PTT from three waste feed streams was developed in the SuperPro Designer software and the economic viability assessed via a discounted cumulative cash flow (DCCF) analysis. A techno-economic analysis of the designed process revealed that the minimum selling price (MSP) of second generation-derived PEF and PTT is 3.13 USD/kg, and that utilities and the feedstock used for the production of 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) needed in PEF synthesis contributed the most to the process operating costs. The effect of recycling PEF and PTT through the process at three recycling rates (42%, 50% and 55%) was investigated and it was revealed that increased recycling could reduce the MSP of the 2G bio-plastics (by 48.5%) to 1.61 USD/kg. This demonstrates that the plastic biorefinery, together with increasing recycling rates, would have a beneficial effect on the economic viability of upcycled plastics.

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Extended producer responsibility: How to unlock the environmental and economic potential of plastic packaging waste?

Cited by 66 publications

References 42 publications

Management of plastic waste: A bibliometric mapping and analysis

Management of plastic waste: A bibliometric mapping and analysis

The Frontier of Plastics Recycling: Rethinking Waste as a Resource for High‐Value Applications

Assessing the Economic Viability of the Plastic Biorefinery Concept and Its Contribution to a More Circular Plastic Sector

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