Life cycle assessment of recycling options for polylactic acid

Maga, Daniel; Hiebel, Markus; Thonemann, Nils

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2019.05.018

Cited by 137 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…After the implementation of Compostable food ware policy, MIIS started using compostable products made up PLA. PLA is made from corn starch that breaks down in a controlled composting environment that requires around 140 degrees Fahrenheit and digestive microbes [16]. It was observed that on an average around 150 meals are served per day during the business operations that account for roughly 300 compostable items including plates, cutlery, cups and bowls usage per day.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost-benefit Analysis of Compostable Food Serviceware: A Case Study of an Educational Institute in California

Kaur

Acid

2020

JSRR

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Globally, many educational institutes are focusing on implementing sustainability goals by encouraging the use of compostable products over the plastics, reducing waste, conserving water and others. The study performs a financial assessment of using Compostable food service ware (CSFW) in the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), Monterey, California. To better understand the financial implications of the use of compostable food ware, comparisons have been made with the traditional reusable food service ware (RSFW). The results were calculated and compared through different approaches including data analysis, a Cost-Benefit Analysis and Net Present Values (NPVs). NPV values of compostable resulted in positive figures at different discount factors where a 3% discount rate has a higher value. The study concludes that investing in CSFW could be a financially sound approach as this practice is not only cost-effective but has certain environmental benefits over the reusables. The findings of our study can be used in the decision-making process by the educational institutes and other organizations while targeting their sustainability goals. Further studies can be done to evaluate the in depth analysis of assessing costs of production, carbon footprints and to determine the payback period of both types of items.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost-benefit Analysis of Compostable Food Serviceware: A Case Study of an Educational Institute in California

Kaur

Acid

2020

JSRR

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“…This is partly due to the higher weight of the rigid design and partly due to the burdens from agricultural operations. The alleged benefit of compostability does not offer any environmental advantages since composting of PLA is the worst EoL option compared to recycling or thermal treatment [33]. Moreover, since meat trays are normally not littered but collected by the waste disposal system, compostability is not applicable for this application.…”

Section: Discussion Of Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…PLA is assumed to be thermally treated since recycling technology will probably not be established until the year 2030 due to small amounts of this plastic in the market. However, the recycling of PLA can reduce environmental impacts of PLA considerably [33]. Table 3 summarises the shares of EoL options for the year 2030 following the European strategy for plastics in a circular economy.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Savings are mainly achieved in two impact categories: global warming and freshwater eutrophication. In the case of ozone depletion, no differences occur as a consequence of the change of EoL pathways, as the EoL only accounts for a small contribution, and furthermore incineration of PLA is environmentally beneficial compared to landfilling due to energy recovery [33]. For PLA, most of the investigated environmental impacts decrease.…”

Section: Sensitivity Analysis On End-of-lifementioning

confidence: 99%

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A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Meat Trays Made of Various Packaging Materials

2019

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In light of the debate on the circular economy, the EU strategy for plastics, and several national regulations, such as the German Packaging Act, polymeric foam materials as well as hybrid packaging (multilayered plastic) are now in focus. To understand the environmental impacts of various tray solutions for meat packaging, a comparative environmental assessment was conducted. As an environmental assessment method, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied following the ISO standards 14040/44. The nine packaging solutions investigated were: PS-based trays (extruded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene with five-layered structure containing ethylene vinyl alcohol), PET-based trays (recycled polyethylene terephthalate, with and without polyethylene layer, and amorphous polyethylene terephthalate), polypropylene (PP) and polylactic acid (PLA). The scope of the LCA study included the production of the tray and the end-of-life stage. The production of meat, the filling of the tray with meat and the tray sealing were not taken into account. The results show that the PS-based trays, especially the mono material solutions made of extruded polystyrene (XPS), show the lowest environmental impact across all 12 impact categories except for resource depletion. Multilayer products exhibit higher environmental impacts. The LCA also shows that the end-of-life stage has an important influence on the environmental performance of trays. However, the production of the trays dominates the overall results. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis illustrates that, even if higher recycling rates were realised in the future, XPS based solutions would still outperform the rest from an environmental perspective.

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“…From all assessed studies just Maga et al did so.) has only been considered in a single scenario in Maga et al [44]. The treatment methods household composting, reuse, and litter were not examined in any of the studies; therefore, no data could be obtained.…”

Section: Types Of End-of-life Optionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

End-of-Life Options for Bio-Based Plastics in a Circular Economy—Status Quo and Potential from a Life Cycle Assessment Perspective

Spierling

Venkatachalam

Mudersbach³

et al. 2020

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The bio-based plastic market is forecast to grow in the next years. With a growing market share and product range, the implementation of circular thinking is becoming more and more important also for bio-based plastics to enable a sound circular economy for these group of plastics. Therefore, it is important to assess the environmental performance for different end-of-life options of bio-based plastics from an early stage on. This review presents a comprehensive overview on the current status quo of different end-of-life options for bio-based plastics from an environmental perspective. Based on the status quo and the corresponding impact assessment results, the global plastic demand as well as the technical substitution potential of bio-based plastics, the environmental saving potential in case of the different end-of-life options was calculated. The review shows that there is a focus on polylactic acid (PLA) regarding end-of-life assessment, with studies covering all end-of-life options. The focus of the impact assessment has been set on global warming potential (GWP). With respect to GWP, the analysis of a future global potential of PLA showed, for mechanical recycling, the highest saving potential with 94.1 Mio. t CO2-eq. per year in comparison to virgin material.

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Life cycle assessment of recycling options for polylactic acid

Cited by 137 publications

References 14 publications

Cost-benefit Analysis of Compostable Food Serviceware: A Case Study of an Educational Institute in California

Cost-benefit Analysis of Compostable Food Serviceware: A Case Study of an Educational Institute in California

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Meat Trays Made of Various Packaging Materials

End-of-Life Options for Bio-Based Plastics in a Circular Economy—Status Quo and Potential from a Life Cycle Assessment Perspective

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