WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

Monomer type

Table 4: Energy use for polymer production in Europe

Energy
tonnes CO2
(GJ/t product)
(fossil/t product)

LDPE/LLDPE(a)

78

1.8

HDPE

80

1.7

PP(b)

111

3.4

PVC

57

2.0

PS

87

2.6

78

2.3

Amino

60

2.9

PUR

105

3.9

Others

117

5.1

PET
(c)

(a) Assumed product mix: 5/7 LLDPE, 2/7 LDPE

(b) Assumed product mix: 1/2 PP Injection Moulding, 1/2 Oriented PP Film
(c) Assumed product mix: 2/3 urea resin, 1/3 melamine resin.
Sources:
Eco-Profiles of Plastics and Related Intermediates Methodology, I. Boustead, Brussels 1999, and
Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe, LCA/Eco Profile fact sheets, www.apme.org
Assessing the environmental potential of clean material technologies, EC/IPTS, Spain

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WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

Figure 2 shows the achievable energy savings and CO2 reductions if one tonne of waste plastics is
recycled or if it is incinerated in highly efficient processes (including cement kilns)14.
Figure 2: Energy savings from waste plastics management options

(1)Figures represent the weighted average of various types of mechanical recycling. Individual datasets are (substitution
factor = 1,0): PVC (38 GJ/t, 1800 kg CO2/t), PE (51 GJ/t, 1000 kg CO2/t).
PS (57 GJ/t, 1650 kg CO2/t), PUR (68 GJ/T, 3100 kg CO2/t), PMMA (66 GJ/t, 3400 kg CO2/t).
(2)These processes are characterized by a extraordinarily wide range of data depending on the primary production process.
(3)These are only very few municipal waste incineration plants of this efficiency in Europe.
(4)Blast fumace process. For gasification and subsequent methanol production production (SVZ) the figures are : 19 GJ/t and
1200 kg CO2/t.
(5)The solid bar give the values for the Hamburg pyrolisis of PE. Much higher savings are feasible for other polymers (dashed
line), e.g. for PS (52 GJ/t, 1250 kg CO2/t), PMMA (64 GJ/t, 3300 kg CO2/t), PAS (79 GJ/t, 4200 kg CO2/t).

Reducing the need for new waste disposal facilities

The best form of waste management is waste prevention. However, for wastes which are created,
there is a more or less agreed hierarchy of management options. In general terms it is expected that
material recycling and re-use should be considered before energy recovery. Increased attention to
the higher choices will inevitably reduce the need for new waste disposal facilities. Of course, there
are circumstances where factors (such as geographical location, contamination, local markets and
reprocessing capacity) can mean energy recovery becomes the best practicable environmental
option (BPEO).

14- For information on the methodology look at:

Recycling and recovery of plastics from packagings in domestic waste LCA-type analysis of different strategies, Heyde, M.; Kremer, M.,
Fraunhofer Institut fr Verfahrenstechnik und Verpackung (IVV), Freising. LCA Documents, Ecomed publishers, Vol. 5, 1999.
Closing Carbon Cycles: Carbon use for materials in the context of resource efficiency and climate change, Patel, M., PhD thesis, Utrecht
University, The Netherlands, December 1999

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