Abstract
The article presents the results of research aimed at analysing the share of fractions suitable for recycling and pollutants in waste collected in a yellow bag. The research was carried out in an area inhabited by 200,000 people. The amount of waste collected in the communes in yellow containers in 2016–2019 increased systematically in communes: rural by 75.8, urban–rural by 44.9 and urban by 17.8%. The collection efficiency expressed in the degree of collection was the highest and grew fastest in rural areas (from 25.1 to 35.5%). In cities, it practically did not change (14.4–15.8%). The weight of recyclable components represented on average 39.9% of the weight of yellow bag waste. Plastic bottles (PET) packaging prevailed, the share of which changed from 19.6 to 14.8%, including the share of colourless PET decreasing from 7.9 to 5.8%. At present, revenue from the sale of secondary raw materials obtained from waste collected separately to yellow bags covers only 26% of the costs related to the recycling and recovery of waste delivered to the installation. Support for separate collection of plastics through recovery organisations, i.e., entrepreneurs who are obliged to recover and recycle waste, is symbolic.
Highlights
Plastics are an important material in many sectors of the economy, but they pose a challenge to sustainable development in terms of waste treatment, resource efficiency and environmental protection.Low recycling rates and high levels of environmental disposal are key issues for environmental technology designers and packaging manufacturers to address.The production of plastics including thermoplastics, polyurethanes, thermosetting plastics, elastomers, adhesives, coatings and sealing materials in 2018 worldwide amounted to 359 million tonnes and in Europe (EU 28+Norway+Switzerland) to 61.8 million tonnes
Plastic packaging waste is problematic here due to the high volume to weight ratio, it is not an attractive material for collection and recycling, and the costs of transport, reprocessing and the value of the raw material have an impact on the final price of recycled polymer material
As shown by analyses of various systems in Europe [28], it is recommended to focus on separate collection of plastic fractions based on the quality of the recyclables and not based on waste amounts
Summary
Plastics are an important material in many sectors of the economy, but they pose a challenge to sustainable development in terms of waste treatment, resource efficiency and environmental protection. An important element of regulatory changes introduced by the EU directive (Directive EU 2019/904) [4] concerning single-use plastic products (Single-Use Plastics Directive), the so-called SUP, will be sanctioned in 2021 to ban and limit the use of 10 disposable plastic products that have environmentally safe alternatives (plates and cutlery, beauty sticks, balloon sticks, polystyrene boxes and cups (EPS), products made of oxo-degradable materials) Another requirement introduced by EU regulations (Directive EU 2019/904) [4] will be an increase in the share of recyclates in PET bottles. Numerous studies indicate a high share of pollutants in the waste fractions collected separately, as a result of mistakes made in waste segregation, society’s habituation to the system without separate collection and insufficient environmental education [11,12,14,15,16] These pollutants hamper treatment processes and reduce the value of the achieved levels of recycling and reuse of waste [17]. The research was carried out at the Mechanical–Biological Waste Treatment Plant (MBT) in Marszów (Poland, Lubuskie Voivodeship) that operates a selective waste collection area with a population of 200,000 inhabitants
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