Publication detail

Plastics: friends or foes? The circularity and plastic waste footprint

Klemeš, J.J., Fan, Y.V., Jiang, P.

Original Title

Plastics: friends or foes? The circularity and plastic waste footprint

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

English

Original Abstract

The plastics are becoming one of the most discussed topics in media and research. They have been branded sometimes as evil, which has to be replaced, in some cases at any cost. However, an equitable analysis and assessment are needed comparing all pros and cons based on environmental footprints quantification with a complete life cycle assessment. These should include assessment of possible health risks, consumed energy, released emissions and effluents, as well as consumption of raw materials, water and dealing with the wastewater. The assessment of recyclability, reprocessing and environmental burden of disposal phases are also needed. This presented work tends to contribute to the discussion of what recommendations should be developed to the industry and business to minimize the environmental impacts. A novel Plastic Waste Footprint is proposed to understand the net potential impacts of plastic and to facilitate the decision making for plastic replacement. This study highlighted that plastic could be a friend if the Circular Economy (CE) is appropriately followed. Reduction (refrain, redesign/reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose), recycle and recovery (no leaking into the ocean or other streams) play the decisive roles to minimize and recover the embodied energy, promoting sustainable plastic values chain. Policy to regulate/encourage manufacturers toward sustainable practice (taxation, end of life collection, an incentive of using secondary raw materials) and education (refrain, reuse, separation and recycle) on the potential users are important from not evolving the plastic from friend with high functionality to foe.

Keywords

Plastics; micro; and nanoplastics; sustainability; circular economy; plastic waste footprint; recycling; energy recovery; SOLID-WASTE; MANAGEMENT; ECONOMY; POLICY

Authors

Klemeš, J.J., Fan, Y.V., Jiang, P.

Released

15. 8. 2020

Publisher

TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC, 530 WALNUT STREET, STE 850, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106 USA

Location

TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC, 530 WALNUT STREET, STE 850, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106 USA

ISBN

1556-7036

Periodical

Energy Sources Part A-Recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects

Number

1

State

United States of America

Pages from

10

Pages to

10

Pages count

17

URL

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15567036.2020.1801906

BibTex

@article{BUT167759,
  author="Jiří {Klemeš} and Yee Van {Fan}",
  title="Plastics: friends or foes? The circularity and plastic waste footprint",
  journal="Energy Sources Part A-Recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects",
  year="2020",
  number="1",
  pages="10--10",
  doi="10.1080/15567036.2020.1801906",
  issn="1556-7036",
  url="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15567036.2020.1801906"
}