TY - JOUR

T1 - Recyclable, but not recycled

T2 - an indicator to quantify the environmental impacts of plastic waste disposal

AU - Venkatachalam, Venkateshwaran

AU - Spierling, Sebastian

AU - Endres, Hans Josef

N1 - Funding Information: The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of Leibniz Universität Hannover.

PY - 2024/1/23

Y1 - 2024/1/23

N2 - With an exponential increase in the production and consumption of plastic products over the last few years, the predominantly linear (take-make-dispose) economy of the plastic life cycle has captured global attention. Even though plastic products offer versatile benefits with their properties across different sectors, with a global recycling rate of less than 10%, it is challenging to reduce the pollution generated by plastic waste. Also, the loss of resources due to the uncontrolled disposal of plastic waste has been projected to cause long-term negative effects on the environment. To ensure a better circularity of the plastic flows across the world, it is essential to design plastic products that have an adequate infrastructure to recover and recycle the waste no matter where they are used. The polymer manufacturers and the plastics converters must account for the environmental impacts of the resources lost in the environment due to the lack of recycling infrastructure as a part of Extended Producer Responsibility. This study introduces an indicator that accounts for the loss of resources and proposes for a better methodology to quantify the environmental impacts of polymers and plastic products, based on their recyclability and the availability of recycling infrastructure to handle them. By integrating the loss of resources with the environmental impacts of specific polymers used in specific plastic products, the stakeholders across the value chain have the choice to select the polymers and products that are actually recycled, thereby reducing their environmental impacts and increasing the circularity.

AB - With an exponential increase in the production and consumption of plastic products over the last few years, the predominantly linear (take-make-dispose) economy of the plastic life cycle has captured global attention. Even though plastic products offer versatile benefits with their properties across different sectors, with a global recycling rate of less than 10%, it is challenging to reduce the pollution generated by plastic waste. Also, the loss of resources due to the uncontrolled disposal of plastic waste has been projected to cause long-term negative effects on the environment. To ensure a better circularity of the plastic flows across the world, it is essential to design plastic products that have an adequate infrastructure to recover and recycle the waste no matter where they are used. The polymer manufacturers and the plastics converters must account for the environmental impacts of the resources lost in the environment due to the lack of recycling infrastructure as a part of Extended Producer Responsibility. This study introduces an indicator that accounts for the loss of resources and proposes for a better methodology to quantify the environmental impacts of polymers and plastic products, based on their recyclability and the availability of recycling infrastructure to handle them. By integrating the loss of resources with the environmental impacts of specific polymers used in specific plastic products, the stakeholders across the value chain have the choice to select the polymers and products that are actually recycled, thereby reducing their environmental impacts and increasing the circularity.

KW - carbon footprint

KW - circular economy

KW - ecodesign

KW - infrastructure

KW - LCA

KW - plastic waste

KW - recycling

KW - sustainability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184235201&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1316530

DO - 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1316530

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85184235201

VL - 12

JO - Frontiers in Environmental Science

JF - Frontiers in Environmental Science

M1 - 1316530

ER -