Life-Cycle Assessment of Recycling Postconsumer High-Density Polyethylene and Polyethylene Terephthalate

This study aims to quantify the overall environmental performances of mechanical recycling of the postconsumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Jordan. The life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is used to assess the potential environmental impacts of recycli...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Advances in civil engineering 2020, Vol.2020 (2020), p.1-15
Main Author: Bataineh, Khaled M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon dioxide
Civil engineering
Climate change
Developing countries
Emissions
Energy conservation
Energy consumption
Energy requirements
Environmental impact
Environmental performance
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
High density polyethylenes
Landfill
LDCs
Life cycle assessment
Methods
Municipal solid waste
Plastics
Pollutants
Pollution sources
Polyethylene terephthalate
Quality
Raw materials
Recycling
Researchers
Resins
Studies
Sustainability
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Summary:This study aims to quantify the overall environmental performances of mechanical recycling of the postconsumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in Jordan. The life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is used to assess the potential environmental impacts of recycling postconsumer PET and HDPE. It quantifies the total energy requirements, energy sources, atmospheric pollutants, waterborne pollutants, and solid waste resulting from the production of recycled PET and HDPE resin from the postconsumer plastic. System expansion and cut-off recycling allocation methods are applied. The analysis has been carried out according to the LCA standard, series UNI EN ISO 14040-14044:2006. A standard unit of output (functional unit) is defined as “one ton of PET flake” and “one ton of HDPE pellet.” The results of the production of virgin resin are compared with the “cut-off” and “system expansion” recycling results. Depending on the allocation methods applied, a nonrenewable energy saving of 40–85% and greenhouse gas emission saving of 25–75% can be achieved. Based on two allocation methods, PET and HDPE recycling offers important environmental benefits over single-use virgin PET and HDPE. LCA offers a powerful tool for assisting companies and policy-makers in the waste plastic industry. Furthermore, the “system expansion” recycling method is not easy to apply because it requires detailed data outside of the life cycle of the investigated product.
ISSN:1687-8086
1687-8094
DOI:10.1155/2020/8905431