Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 755-775 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 16 Feb 2024 |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2024 |
Abstract
Plastic consumption in Australia is steadily increasing and is estimated to reach 8.8 million tonnes by 2050. Alongside plastic consumption, plastic waste management (PWM) faces rising environmental challenges in Australia as most of them are currently landfilled. Therefore, the Australian government has published a policy to transition to a circular economy as well as a new strategy for PWM with higher recycling rates. To understand the implications of the policy changes and the environmental impacts of End-of-Life (EoL) options, life cycle thinking is necessary. This study evaluates and compares the environmental impacts of the Australian PWM for 2018–2019 to the policy envisaged for 2030 that includes higher recycling rates and waste export bans from a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. From the results, it can be seen that the current PWM is majorly linear (take, make, use and dispose) as most of the wastes gets landfilled and exported to other countries but the future PWM strategy for 2030 results in higher resource recovery and significant reduction in the environmental impacts. There is a reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) by a factor of almost 10, if the recycling rates increase from 13 to 70%. The state and the federal governments along with other stakeholders need to implement stringent measures to recover plastic wastes if a transition to a circular economy is to happen by 2030.
Keywords
- Australia, Circular economy, End-of-Life, Life cycle assessment, Plastics, Recycling, Waste management
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Science(all)
- Waste Management and Disposal
- Engineering(all)
- Mechanics of Materials
Sustainable Development Goals
Cite this
- Standard
- Harvard
- Apa
- Vancouver
- BibTeX
- RIS
In: Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management, Vol. 26, No. 2, 03.2024, p. 755-775.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Environmental potential of recycling of plastic wastes in Australia based on life cycle assessment
AU - Soenmez, Can
AU - Venkatachalam, Venkateshwaran
AU - Spierling, Sebastian
AU - Endres, Hans Josef
AU - Barner, Leonie
N1 - Funding Information: The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of Leibniz Universität Hannover.
PY - 2024/3
Y1 - 2024/3
N2 - Plastic consumption in Australia is steadily increasing and is estimated to reach 8.8 million tonnes by 2050. Alongside plastic consumption, plastic waste management (PWM) faces rising environmental challenges in Australia as most of them are currently landfilled. Therefore, the Australian government has published a policy to transition to a circular economy as well as a new strategy for PWM with higher recycling rates. To understand the implications of the policy changes and the environmental impacts of End-of-Life (EoL) options, life cycle thinking is necessary. This study evaluates and compares the environmental impacts of the Australian PWM for 2018–2019 to the policy envisaged for 2030 that includes higher recycling rates and waste export bans from a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. From the results, it can be seen that the current PWM is majorly linear (take, make, use and dispose) as most of the wastes gets landfilled and exported to other countries but the future PWM strategy for 2030 results in higher resource recovery and significant reduction in the environmental impacts. There is a reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) by a factor of almost 10, if the recycling rates increase from 13 to 70%. The state and the federal governments along with other stakeholders need to implement stringent measures to recover plastic wastes if a transition to a circular economy is to happen by 2030.
AB - Plastic consumption in Australia is steadily increasing and is estimated to reach 8.8 million tonnes by 2050. Alongside plastic consumption, plastic waste management (PWM) faces rising environmental challenges in Australia as most of them are currently landfilled. Therefore, the Australian government has published a policy to transition to a circular economy as well as a new strategy for PWM with higher recycling rates. To understand the implications of the policy changes and the environmental impacts of End-of-Life (EoL) options, life cycle thinking is necessary. This study evaluates and compares the environmental impacts of the Australian PWM for 2018–2019 to the policy envisaged for 2030 that includes higher recycling rates and waste export bans from a life cycle assessment (LCA) perspective. From the results, it can be seen that the current PWM is majorly linear (take, make, use and dispose) as most of the wastes gets landfilled and exported to other countries but the future PWM strategy for 2030 results in higher resource recovery and significant reduction in the environmental impacts. There is a reduction in Global Warming Potential (GWP) by a factor of almost 10, if the recycling rates increase from 13 to 70%. The state and the federal governments along with other stakeholders need to implement stringent measures to recover plastic wastes if a transition to a circular economy is to happen by 2030.
KW - Australia
KW - Circular economy
KW - End-of-Life
KW - Life cycle assessment
KW - Plastics
KW - Recycling
KW - Waste management
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85185485880&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10163-024-01901-1
DO - 10.1007/s10163-024-01901-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85185485880
VL - 26
SP - 755
EP - 775
JO - Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management
JF - Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management
SN - 1438-4957
IS - 2
ER -