TY - JOUR
T1 - Economic and environmental feasibility of recycling flexible plastic packaging from single stream collection
AU - Lin, Yingqian
AU - Severson, Michael H.
AU - Nguyen, Ruby T.
AU - Johnson, Anne
AU - King, Christopher
AU - Coddington, Beth
AU - Hu, Hongqiang
AU - Madden, Brennan
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Advanced Manufacturing Office Award Number DE-EE0007897 awarded to the REMADE Institute, a division of Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance Corp. The authors would like to thank TotalRecycle, Erema/CharterNext, QRS RePoly and Continuus Materials who provided information for our analysis. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. © This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC0705ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.
Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Advanced Manufacturing Office Award Number DE-EE0007897 awarded to the REMADE Institute, a division of Sustainable Manufacturing Innovation Alliance Corp. The authors would like to thank TotalRecycle, Erema/CharterNext, QRS RePoly and Continuus Materials who provided information for our analysis.
Funding Information:
© This manuscript has been authored by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC0705ID14517 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/5
Y1 - 2023/5
N2 - As demand for plastic increases, there is an urgent need to ramp up its collection and recycling rate. This study reports results of a pilot study in the United States to recycle flexible plastic packaging (FPP) from single stream curbside collection focusing on both the economic feasibility and carbon footprint. To explore the marketability of recycled FPP, four downstream market pathways were studied, including roof coverboard, plastic pellets, pallets, and film. Results indicated that (1) the cleaning and pelletizing process at reclaimers contributed the most to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of recycled FPP products, and (2) the GHG emissions of recycled FPP products in all four pathways are lower than the comparator products. Therefore, using a higher percentage of recycled FPP substituted in a product can result in greater GHG emission reductions. All the recycled FPP products also showed favorable economics compared to their direct competitors.
AB - As demand for plastic increases, there is an urgent need to ramp up its collection and recycling rate. This study reports results of a pilot study in the United States to recycle flexible plastic packaging (FPP) from single stream curbside collection focusing on both the economic feasibility and carbon footprint. To explore the marketability of recycled FPP, four downstream market pathways were studied, including roof coverboard, plastic pellets, pallets, and film. Results indicated that (1) the cleaning and pelletizing process at reclaimers contributed the most to the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of recycled FPP products, and (2) the GHG emissions of recycled FPP products in all four pathways are lower than the comparator products. Therefore, using a higher percentage of recycled FPP substituted in a product can result in greater GHG emission reductions. All the recycled FPP products also showed favorable economics compared to their direct competitors.
KW - Carbon footprints
KW - Flexible plastic packaging
KW - Life cycle assessment
KW - Material recovery facility
KW - Plastic recycling
KW - Techno-economic analysis
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85147969814
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/6e481220-6bef-33bc-8613-9f7e4714991c/
U2 - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.106908
DO - 10.1016/j.resconrec.2023.106908
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85147969814
SN - 0921-3449
VL - 192
JO - Resources, Conservation and Recycling
JF - Resources, Conservation and Recycling
M1 - 106908
ER -