Abstract
Expanding the curbside collection system for household plastic packaging could help in accomplishing the ambitious recycling targets set by the European Union. In this study, the effects of such expansion in terms of quality and quantity of sorted plastic waste fractions were investigated. By applying a validated sorting model, the flows of packages in Belgium from their use phase until the output of the sorting plant and the quantity and composition of sorted waste fractions were simulated. These data were subsequently used to calculate existing performance indicators, such as grade and recovery, as well as new indicators, such as the Simpson's Diversity Index (SDI), which is a measure for the compositional diversity of sorted waste fractions. The highest SDI was calculated for the fraction named ‘other films’, namely 82%, showing that this fraction comprised the most diverse polymer mixture. Results indicated that certain sorted fractions achieve high product grade levels, e.g. more than 99% for the PS rigid fraction, whereas others had significantly lower product grades of approximately 80% for the PE films. Material Flow Analysis showed that by expanding the collection portfolio the collection rate of plastic packaging increased from 33.6 to 64.4 m%, of which 77.3% is simulated to be separated in the targeted waste fractions. However, this will be insufficient to meet the recycling target of 50% by 2025 as in total only 49.8% of plastic packaging is sorted correctly. Hence, additional improvements in both recycling technologies and packaging design are needed to further increase plastic recycling rates.
Highlights
Efficient and sustainable end-of-life management of municipal solid waste is an enormous global challenge
In a first study of Roosen et al, (2020), 102 types of packaging products, consisting of 24 PET bottles, 12 PET trays, 10 PE bottles, 3 PP bottles, 14 PP trays, 9 PS trays, 11 monolayer films, and 19 multilayer films, were sampled at the outlet of a Belgian material recovery facilities (MRFs) (Roosen et al, 2020). Each of these products were characterized up to the level of separable packaging items in terms of polymer and elemental composition via various chemical analysis, comprising inductively coupled plasma op tical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), combustion ion chromatography (CIC), elemental analyzer, differential scanning calo rimetry (DSC), and polarized optical microscopy (POM)
This study focuses on the sorted plastic fractions, being PET bottles, PET trays, PE rigid, PP rigid, PS rigid, PE films, and other films, and excludes other fractions such as ferrous, nonferrous, and beverage cartons
Summary
Efficient and sustainable end-of-life management of municipal solid waste is an enormous global challenge. Various measures have been taken to improve recycling rates of plastics and to accomplish a transition towards a more circular economy for plastics (De Tandt et al, 2021). In this context, the Euro pean Union (EU) has been introducing more and more stringent legis lation to improve plastic waste management and to encourage environmental friendly end-of-use options such as re-use and recycling (Hahladakis and Iacovidou, 2019). Most of the EU Member States have introduced EPR schemes for packaging waste collection and recovery, which were implemented through different types of instruments, such as regulatory take-back schemes, recycling requirements, and deposit systems (Leal Filho et al, 2019). Optimizing EPR schemes remains to date a major discussion point within the field of waste management (Kranzinger et al, 2017)
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