Life Cycle Assessment of Polyethylene Terephthalate Packaging: An Overview

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a common technique to evaluate the environmental impact of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) packaging. A review is needed to gain a clear view of the accumulated knowledge, scientific trends and what remains to be done. The main purpose of this paper is to present an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of polymers and the environment 2019-03, Vol.27 (3), p.533-548
Main Authors: Gomes, Thiago S., Visconte, Leila L. Y., Pacheco, Elen B. A. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aluminum
Carbonation
Chemical recycling
Chemistry
Chemistry and Materials Science
Climate change
Developing countries
Energy consumption
Energy conversion
Environmental Chemistry
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Environmental impact
Global warming
Incineration
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Landfills
LDCs
Life cycle analysis
Life cycle assessment
Life cycle engineering
Life cycles
Materials Science
Mechanical properties
Organic chemistry
Packaging
Polyethylene
Polyethylene terephthalate
Polylactic acid
Polymer Sciences
Polymers
Recycling
Review
Waste disposal sites
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Summary:Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a common technique to evaluate the environmental impact of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) packaging. A review is needed to gain a clear view of the accumulated knowledge, scientific trends and what remains to be done. The main purpose of this paper is to present an overview of LCA of PET, mainly for packaging. LCA studies of PET consist largely of two segments: final destination of post-consumer PET, comparing recycling with other options (incineration, landfilling); and alternative materials, comparing PET with other polymers or materials such as glass and aluminum cans. In the first case, the scenarios most often compared have been landfill disposal and mechanical recycling. There has also been considerable research on the use of post-consumer PET for energy conversion and chemical recycling. In the second case, the main polymer compared with PET is poly(lactic acid), whose mechanical properties make it unsuitable for carbonated beverage bottles. Numerous articles have focused only on energy consumption or global warming potential. Few studies have discussed mechanical recycling technologies in LCA and there is a lack of data on the processes used in developing countries. This review highlights the need to conduct LCA studies of PET, since many aspects are still not fully understood.
ISSN:1566-2543
1572-8919
DOI:10.1007/s10924-019-01375-5