Sustainable Management and Recovery Potential of …Sustainable Management and Recovery Potential of...
Transcript of Sustainable Management and Recovery Potential of …Sustainable Management and Recovery Potential of...
Sustainable Management and Recovery Potential of plastic
waste from the commercial and private household sectors
Ingo Sartorius/Joachim Wuttke
OECD Global Forum, Mechelen, 25 October 2010
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Content
Introduction
• Plastics are sustainable materials
• Life cycle consideration
• Principles of plastics waste management
o 3 Options: mechanical, feedstock and energy recovery
o Cost & environmental aspects
o Conclusion: Divert from landfill
Plastics waste management in Germany
The European challenge
Conclusion
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Automotive
Building/
Construction
Packaging
Electrical/
Electronics
Agriculture
Medicine
Plastics are sustainable materials
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Product use
90%
Disposal
0,2%
Production,
Transport
9,8%
Plastics material management in products: The use phase dominates
Source: Report ENV Ministry Lower Saxony
*) electric stove, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer
cumulated energy demand
of large household appliances*
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Plastics Value Chain in Europe 2009 – data for EU-27 plus CH/NO –
Import
Export
Household (post-
consumer)
Con- sumer
demand
Waste 28 Mt
24 Mt
Industry, Commerce
(post- industrial)
4 Mt
Import
Export
Pro- duction
55 Mt
Con- sumption
45 Mt
Export
Import
Source: Consultic
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Options for Recovery of Plastics Waste
RECOVERY
MATERIAL RECOVERY ENERGY RECOVERY
ALTERNATIVE
FUEL
(cement, power)
MECHANICAL
RECYCLING
(Plastic products)
FEEDSTOCK
RECYCLING
(Chemical raw materials)
DIRECT
INCINERATION
(MSWI)
MSWI = Municipal Solid Waste Incineration
= Recycling
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When to choose which option?
• Mechanical recycling
by remelting and compounding
• Feedstock recycling
by decomposition of polymeric materials e.g. gasification, blast furnace, hydrogenisa- tion, pyrolysis, solvolysis, de-polymerisation
• Energy recovery
by incineration with energy recovery e.g. in MSWI, cement kiln, substitution of oil/coke in power generation
Criteria:
pure grade, clean mixed or type alike, soiled
mixed, soiled
Waste quality is decisive
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Mechanical recycling is preferred, if …
…homogeneous, ‘clean’ waste streams
…can replace virgin on close to 1:1 basis
…markets exist or can be developed when specifications are met
PET bottles
PE recyclate HIPS recycling pellet PP recyclate
PVC recyclate
mixed plastics recyclate
PET flakes from sor- ted packaging waste
Prerequisite for recyclates:
Technical qualities have to be fulfilled to be competitive on the market; therefore
products containing recyclates usually go in other applications than the original one
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Characteristics for both recovery options:
• Suitable for mixed, laminated or soiled plastic wastes
• Secured emission control and plant safety due to strict permit law
• Often in an existing large industrial installation under market conditions
Feedstock recycling and energy recovery
Feedstock recycling
Principle:
conversion of organic waste into
hydrocarbons and feed them into
plants of chemical industry
Technology examples:
• Depolymerisation
• Gasification
• Pyrolysis
• Metal smelters
• Blast furnace
Energy recovery
Principle:
utilising energy resources from organic
waste by direct incineration via co-com-
bustion or substitution of fuel (e.g. SRF)
Technology examples:
• Modern incinerators (>65% eff.)
• Cement kiln
• Power plants
• Pulp & paper industry
MSWI plant Spittelau/Vienna, AT
Blast furnace of voestalpine/Linz, AT
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Key factors to an optimised sustainable waste management
• Waste quality
• Environmental effects
• Costs
• Amounts for scale-up
• Competitive technologies available in the market
• Demand for products of waste recovery operations
• Regional infrastructure
• Legal frame conditions
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Life Cycle Assessment for Recovery Routes of Plastics Packaging
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
Bottl
es
Films
Pipes
Palisad
es
Bas
e of h
oard
ings
Blast
furn
ace
Therm
olysi
s
Gas
ifica
tion
Co-C
ombus
tion
Dru
m b
ed in
ciner
atio
n
Cem
ent k
iln
En
erg
y i
n M
J/k
g r
ec
ove
red
pla
sti
c
-40,1
-31,5
-54,8
-7,1 -5,2
-29,3 -28,6 -26,4
-28,1
-34
-27,9
-29,8
Mechanical Feedstock Energy Recovery
Source:
Ökobilanz der Verwertungswege 1995
Hyde/Kremer, LCA-Documents 1999
Input
bottles, films
Input
mixed plastics
Landfill
1. Recovery is better than disposal 2. No single option can be assigned as best
-13,4
-15,9
En
erg
y S
avin
gs c
om
pare
d t
o L
an
dfi
ll
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Mechanical recycling
of post-
consumer waste (Auto, EE, packaging)
Energy recovery
waste
incineration
Feedstock recovery
synthesis production
Energy recovery
power station, cement kiln
Landfill
Euro / t
industrial film
mixed, complex waste
Waste Management Options – Economics
Source: tecpol, UBA
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Landfill is the least preferred option
• Large quantities of Greenhouse Gas emissions
(food, bio waste)
• Waste of material and energy
resources (metals, plastics …)
Consequently:
Extend the recovery of material and energy is key
(recycling, composting, energy recovery)
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Plastics value chain in Germany 2009
Import
Export
Household (post- consumer)
Consumer
demand Waste 4,9 Mt
4,0 Mt
Industry, Commerce (post- industrial)
0,9 Mt
Import
Export
Pro-
duction
17,0 Mt
Con-
sumption
10,7 Mt
Export
Import
>99% Recovery
>97% Recovery
Source: Consultic 2010
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Different qualities of waste
Plastics waste from commercial end-user collection
Plastics waste from private
end-user collection
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Plastics waste management in Germany today
Plastics waste management in Germany Amount of recovered plastics
waste raised from 1,4 mio t (‘94) to 4.8 mio t (2009)
Recovery market under competitive environment
Recovery technologies and routes for plastics waste have been established
Recovery of plastic rich waste streams from 50% (1994) to 97% (2009)
9 dual systems for packaging (all types) collection from households
Bi-annual statistics by independent
external institute with reputation to e.g. UBA:
CONSULTIC GmbH, Alzenau/Germany
0 kt
1.000 kt
2.000 kt
3.000 kt
4.000 kt
5.000 kt
6.000 kt
1994 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007
total
recovery
landfill
divertfrom
landfill
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Post-consumer plastics waste managm‘t in Europe (EU-27 plus CH/NO) 2009
Better than
EU average:
Central Europe
+ FR, NO, SE
Below average:
‚outer regions‘
> 80% recovery
> 50% recovery
> 20% recovery
< 20% recovery
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The comprehensive view: plastics are sustainable materials
Past Target: Safeguard functionality
High recyclability (Metals dominate)
Low recyclability (complex products lead to high
expenditure by dismantling) Future Target: Optimal mix from - Functionality - Price - Safety, comfort - Saving of fuel & Emissions
Goal: Sustainability of products along its life cycle
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Knowledge Transfer Project of PlasticsEurope
• Contribute to sustainable waste management of end-of-life products containing plastics by utilising its material and energy resources
• Focus on countries with „window-of-opportunity“ by identification via country assessment
• Todays focus is France, Poland, Spain and UK, while further countries emerge
• Use the know-how about plastics waste management and make it effective locally
- Establish relationships with stakeholders in value chain
- Support to dialogue and networking
- Contribute to information and education
- Use communication channels (conferences, media, publication etc)
- Provide technical support
• For discussion: interest and further support and development by OECD ?
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Ingo Sartorius
PlasticsEurope
Tel. +49 69 2556 1309
Joachim Wuttke
Umweltbundesamt
Tel. +49 340 2103 3459