Operational Framework to Quantify “Quality of Recycling” across Different Material Types

Abstract

Many pledges and laws are setting recycling targets without clearly defining quality of recycling. Striving to close this gap, this study presents an operational framework to quantify quality of recycling. The framework comprises three dimensions: the Virgin Displacement Potential (VDP); In-Use Stocks Lifetime (IUSL); and Environmental Impact (EI). The VDP indicates to what extent a secondary material can be used as a substitute for virgin material; the IUSL indicates how much of a certain material is still functional in society over a given time frame, and the EI is a measure of the environmental impact of a recycling process. The three dimensions are aggregated by plotting them in a distance-to-target graph. Two example calculations are included on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and glass. The results indicate that the recycling of bottle and container glass collected via a deposit–refund system has the lowest distance-to-target, at 1.05, and, thus, the highest quality of recycling. For PET bottles, the highest quality of recycling is achieved in closed-loop mechanical recycling of bottles (distance to optimal quality of 0.96). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis indicates that certain parameters, e.g., the collection rate for PET bottles, can reduce the distance-to-target to 0.75 when all bottles are collected for recycling.

Call for sustainable food systems including (medical) nutrition for hospitalised children and their families

“…Urgent research and innovation are imperative to develop large-scale closed-loop processes that promote the reuse and recycling of plastic waste in medical nutrition, fostering a circular economy. [104][105][106] Medical nutrition products commonly use recyclable polymers like polyethylene terephthalate (PETE) and HDPE, but there is also extensive use of non-recyclable mixed single-use plastics in this sector. The carbonintensive activities associated with plastic extraction, refining and manufacturing release substantial amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.…”