Circular economy: comparative life cycle assessment of fossil polyethylene terephthalate (PET)and its recycled and bio-based counterparts
The transition to circular economy requires diversifying material sources, improving secondary raw materials management, including recycling, and finally finding sustainable alternative materials. Both recycled and bio-based plastics are often regarded as promising alternatives to conventional fossi...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2020 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad de Huelva (UHU) |
| Repositorio: | Arias Montano. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ariasmontano.uhu.es:10272/19296 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19296 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Circular economy Life cycle assessment (LCA) Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) Polylactic acid (PLA) Recycled plastics Sustainable consumption Packaging waste management 33 Ciencias Tecnológicas |
| Sumario: | The transition to circular economy requires diversifying material sources, improving secondary raw materials management, including recycling, and finally finding sustainable alternative materials. Both recycled and bio-based plastics are often regarded as promising alternatives to conventional fossil-based plastics. Their broad application instead of fossil based plastics is, however, frequently the subject of criticism because of offering limited environmental benefits. The study presents a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of fossil-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET) versus its recycled and bio-based counterparts. The system boundary covers the plastics manufacturing and end-of-life plastic management stages (cradle-to-cradle/grave variant). Based on the data and assumptions set out in the research, recycled PET (rPET) demonstrates the best environmental profile out of the evaluated plastics in all impact categories. The study contributes to circular economy in plastics by providing transparent and consistent knowledge on their environmental portfolio. |
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