Sustainable eco-composites obtained from agricultural and urban waste plastic blends and residual cellulose fibers

Urreaga, Joaquín Martínez; González-Sánchez, C.; Martínez-Aguirre, A.; Fonseca-Valero, Carmen; Acosta, J. L.; Orden, M.U. de la

doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.06.001

Cited by 48 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…However, there are demonstrated critical environmental impact challenges associated with the use of plastics. These include, for instance, high electricity consumption during the injection moulding process (Elduque, Elduque, Javierre, Fernández, & Santolaria, 2015) and waste management, reuse and recycling challenges (Kreiger et al, 2014;Martínez Urreaga et al, 2015;Sharma & Bansal, 2016). In Scenario 1, because the analysis focused on the conventional business-as-usual case, we also considered the already employed sustainability practices from the conventional supply chain.…”

Section: The Case and Scenarios Consideredmentioning

confidence: 99%

How supply chain choices affect the life cycle impacts of medical products

Gabriel

Bortsie-Aryee

Apparicio-Farrell

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

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The natural resource based view (NRBV) of organisations suggests that there are two main models used by businesses to achieve short-term sustainability outcomes. They are the product stewardship and pollution prevention models. Here is the case of a New York-based wholesaler of medical supplies. The business aims to develop a more environmentally sustainable supply chain for one of its products -an emesis basin. The emesis basin is currently only offered in high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic, which has negative effects on the natural environment. This study aimed to assess how the focus of the business' new business model might affect the overall life cycle impacts of this product. To achieve this, we compared the environmental impacts of the conventional product (Scenario 1-an HDPE basin) with equivalent products supplied via pollution prevention (Scenario 2 -a bioplastic basin) and product stewardship (Scenario 3 -green supply chain management and improvements) scenarios, as well as a combination scenario (Scenario 4). The results show that, in line with expectations, the pollution prevention option -switching to a bioplastic product -has the lowest environmental impacts. Unexpectedly though, the product stewardship option had a greater impact on the natural environment than the conventional HDPE, business-as-usual option. We suggest there may greater environmental gains to be obtained by focusing on one's core business, than by extending influence to the entire supply chain. KEYWORDSNatural resource-based view (NRBV); Life Cycle Assessment (LCA); sustainable supply chains; medical supply sector HIGHLIGHTS  Four scenarios comparing conventional and bio-plastics considered  Bioplastic product has lowest environmental impact (pollution prevention scenario)  Supply chain changes (product stewardship) have higher impact due to transport fuels  There are benefits to focusing on core business over supply chain integration  We support deeper inclusion of medical supply industry in sustainability discussion Word Count: 8,082ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2

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Section: The Case and Scenarios Consideredmentioning

confidence: 99%

How supply chain choices affect the life cycle impacts of medical products

Gabriel

Bortsie-Aryee

Apparicio-Farrell

et al. 2018

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…However, one of the main drawbacks of the use of GF is related to its high stiffness, which leads to a drop of the toughness of the materials, giving rise to a reduction of the recyclability of these materials [11]. This reduced recyclability does not agree with the European Union (EU) solid waste treatment targets for 2025 and 2030 related to the improvement of the performance of recycled plastics [12]. In this sense, many tons of GF waste from composite materials are deposited in landfills [9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards More Sustainable Material Formulations: A Comparative Assessment of PA11-SGW Flexural Performance versus Oil-Based Composites

et al. 2018

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Abstract:The replacement of commodity polyolefin, reinforced with glass fiber (GF), by greener alternatives has been a topic of research in recent years. Cellulose fibers have shown, under certain conditions, enough tensile capacities to replace GF, achieving competitive mechanical properties. However, if the objective is the production of environmentally friendlier composites, it is necessary to replace oil-derived polymer matrices by bio-based or biodegradable ones, depending on the application. Polyamide 11 (PA11) is a totally bio-based polyamide that can be reinforced with cellulosic fibers. Composites based on this polymer have demonstrated enough tensile strength, as well as stiffness, to replace GF-reinforced polypropylene (PP). However, flexural properties are of high interest for engineering applications. Due to the specific character of short-fiber-reinforced composites, significant differences are expected between the tensile and flexural properties. These differences encourage the study of the flexural properties of a material prior to the design or development of a new product. Despite the importance of the flexural strength, there are few works devoted to its study in the case of PA11-based composites. In this work, an in-depth study of the flexural strength of PA11 composites, reinforced with Stoneground wood (SGW) from softwood, is presented. Additionally, the results are compared with those of PP-based composites. The results showed that the SGW fibers had lower strengthening capacity reinforcing PA11 than PP. Moreover, the flexural strength of PA11-SGW composites was similar to that of PP-GF composites.

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“…an overview of the sector and configurations [24,25]; • proposals for enhancement of specific steps of treatment [26]; and • valorization of the outputs of the light packaging separation [27][28][29].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues

et al. 2018

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Mechanical separation of light packaging waste is a useful practice for improving the quality of the recyclable waste flows and its exploitation in a frame of the circular economy. Materials Recovery Facilities can treat from 3000 to 5000 tons per year of light packaging waste. Concerning the plastic content, this is divided in four flows: PET, HDPE, other plastics, and waste rejects. The last two are generally used for energy recovery. For improving the quality of the recyclable plastic waste, a manual separation is required for reducing the impurities detectable in the final products. However, this practice could enhance the risk at work of the operators, which should be constantly monitored. This article explores the main differences of a manual separation and of a mechanical separation, assessing the costs and the health risk for the workers. The analysis started from the situation in an Italian Materials Recovery Facility, generalizing the context; a future scenario with the application of a mechanical separation is theoretically introduced. The main results obtained suggest that the manual separation plant improves the quality of the material, though increasing the risk of the operators due to the possible contact with sharp waste, sanitary danger, and risk of injuries for the mismanagement of machines, among others. The mechanical separation can be considered a real advantage from an economic point of view, since the operating costs are lower and the investment could be recovered in around 10 years, in an Italian-like context. On balance, on the one hand, the article provides indications for the private sector for improving the management of a Materials Recovery Facility, while, on the other hand, it detects the main pros and cons of both methodologies.

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Sustainable eco-composites obtained from agricultural and urban waste plastic blends and residual cellulose fibers

Cited by 48 publications

References 29 publications

How supply chain choices affect the life cycle impacts of medical products

How supply chain choices affect the life cycle impacts of medical products

Towards More Sustainable Material Formulations: A Comparative Assessment of PA11-SGW Flexural Performance versus Oil-Based Composites

Risk Assessment in a Materials Recycling Facility: Perspectives for Reducing Operational Issues

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