Abstract
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a tool that can help to quantify the impacts of different processes to facilitate comparison and decision making. There are many potential methods for managing plastic waste, but it can be difficult to determine which methods are preferable in terms of environmental impact. Suitable existing LCA studies are identified through a screening process and the methodologies used and their outputs are compared. When undertaking an LCA, the researchers must define their scope and select their parameters, according to their aims and context, which leads to a wide variation in the approach taken. In this study, six parameters have been considered to analyze research progress in these fields regarding LCA, i.e., goals and scope, functional units, impact assessment categories, system boundaries, geographical context, and uncertainty analysis. These studies include the similar type of different studies considering plastic waste recycling, each taking a different approach to defining the system boundaries, revealing how the decision to include or exclude factors such as transport can have a significant impact on the outcomes. Additionally, compared to these similar studies on mixed-plastic waste management, different available options are used to quantitatively compare the impact outcomes, revealing how the context and parameter selection can affect the results. This review aims to highlight the prospect of LCA during the development of a waste management framework as an efficient waste recycling tool and recommend a research gap for the development of an improved management framework in the future.
Highlights
Since their invention in the 20th century, plastics have changed our lives, bringing many benefits and huge damage to the environment
One way to compare the environmental impacts of different processes is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is a method for quantifying all the different impacts a process may have on the environment, allowing comparison to other processes
A variety of research [3,4,5,6,7] has been conducted in this field, and a range of LCAs have been undertaken on plastic waste management
Summary
Since their invention in the 20th century, plastics have changed our lives, bringing many benefits and huge damage to the environment. The biggest problem with plastics is that many types are incredibly long lasting and can take hundreds of years to breakdown. This is causing major problems, including the buildup of plastic pollution across the land and seas. It is estimated that 1.15 to 2.41 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean each year [1] and this is accumulating into huge offshore zones. Various methods are available for handling waste plastic, from burial in landfills, to incineration, to recycling into new products. All of these processes have associated environmental impacts, so it can be difficult to identify the best option. This study reviews past works, discussing and comparing the outcomes
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