scholarly journals Cost-Normalized Circular Economy Indicator and Its Application to Post-Consumer Plastic Packaging Waste

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 3456
Author(s):  
Rafay Tashkeel ◽  
Gobinath P. Rajarathnam ◽  
Wallis Wan ◽  
Behdad Soltani ◽  
Ali Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Market Integration ◽  
Economic Indicator ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Plastic Packaging ◽  
Plastic Recycling ◽  
Packaging Waste ◽  
Pet Film

This work presents an adaptation of the material circularity indicator (MCI) that incorporates economic consideration. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF) has developed the MCI to characterize the sustainability, viz., the “circularity”, of a product by utilizing life cycle assessment data of a product range rather than a single product unit. Our new “circo-economic” indicator (MCIE), combines product MCI in relation to total product mass, with a cost-normalization against estimated plastic recycling costs, for both separately collected and municipal solid waste. This is applied to assess Dutch post-consumer plastic packaging waste comprising polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), film, and mixed plastic products. Results show that MCIE of separate plastic collection (0.81) exceeds municipal solid waste (0.73) for most plastics, thus suggesting that under cost normalization, there is greater conformity of separately collected washed and milled goods to the circular economy. Cost sensitivity analyses show that improvements in plastic sorting technology and policy incentives that enable the production of MSW washed and milled goods at levels comparable to their separately collected counterparts may significantly improve their MCI. We highlight data policy changes and industry collaboration as key to enhanced circularity—emphasized by the restrictive nature of current Dutch policy regarding the release of plastic production, recycling, and costing data, with a general industry reluctance against market integration of weight-benchmarked recycled plastics.

Municipal solid waste-to-energy processing for a circular economy in New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Vol 145 ◽  
pp. 111080
Author(s):  
M.T. Munir ◽  
Ahmad Mohaddespour ◽  
A.T. Nasr ◽  
Susan Carter
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Waste To Energy ◽  
Energy Processing

scholarly journals Poland’s Proposal for a Safe Solution of Waste Treatment during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Circular Economy Connection

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 3939
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Pikoń ◽  
Nikolina Poranek ◽  
Adrian Czajkowski ◽  
Beata Łaźniewska-Piekarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Treatment ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Waste Streams

The purpose of the study presented in this text is to show the influence of COVID-19 on waste management systems and circular economy stream, and their impact on circular economy, particularly the economic impact of the pandemic on the waste management sector, impact on circular economy objectives’ implementation as well as additional challenges like the need for hygienization of waste streams during different implementation efforts, such as changes in the municipal solid waste market and different waste processes of their disposal. Additionally, some methods—such as thermal treatment—which seemed to be not fully aligned with the circular economy approach have advantages not taken into account before. Incineration of higher volume of waste affects the waste structure and will change some of the circular economy objectives. The analysis was carried out on the example of the Polish market.

Management of aluminium packaging waste in selected European countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Warrings ◽  
J Fellner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Bottom Ash ◽  
Mandatory Reporting ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Recycling Rate ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
Packaging Waste

By the end of 2025, a minimum of 50% of aluminium packaging waste has to be recycled within the Member States of the European Union. Aluminium packaging can be recovered through different systems (separate collection, deposit refund systems, informal collection, treatment of municipal solid waste incineration bottom ash or mechanical treatment of mixed municipal solid waste). The present article analysed if the agreed targets for the recycling and reuse of aluminium packaging are reasonable and realistic. To this end, the management of aluminium packaging in 16 selected European countries, yielding results for 11 countries, were investigated. The results show that six out of 11 countries recycle at least two-thirds of the aluminium packaging from MSW and only two report very low recycling rates of 20%. The overall recycling rate reported by the different countries cannot be directly linked to the system of recovery. Only the assertion that a deposit refund system together with selective collection leads to a higher overall collection rate seems permissible. This does not necessarily lead to a higher recycling rate as other countries with similarly high recycling rates make up for it with high amounts of aluminium recovered from bottom ash treatment. A direct comparison of the recycling rates within the European Union Member States, however, is problematic for several reasons, such as data that are often differently or incorrectly assigned, incomplete or rely on estimations and assumptions. The authors therefore propose a clearer assignment of the corresponding data and more extensive mandatory reporting on losses and shares of non-packaging, imported and exported waste.

scholarly journals Transition to a circular economy model as an alternative option of solving the problem of solid waste utilization

2020 ◽  
Vol 161 ◽  
pp. 01108
Author(s):  
Lyubov Larchenko ◽  
Lana Kuramshina
Keyword(s):  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Russian Federation ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Waste Utilization ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Economy Model ◽  
Ecological Problems ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Theoretical Side

Socio-ecological problems are relevant, both at the global and at the national and regional levels. In 2020, much attention is paid to ecology. Due to environmental problems, it is planned to switch from a standard economic linear model to a circular economy. The authors considered the theoretical side of the circular economy, as well as the principles of such a model. The article discusses the existing scheme for the disposal of municipal solid waste, and also shows a new scheme for the disposal of municipal solid waste in the Arkhangelsk region as part of the EcoTechnoPark Shiyes project. The article discusses both the positive and negative aspects of this project. The authors conducted a sociological survey among the population of the Russian Federation, where it was proposed to evaluate the attitude to the EcoTechnoPark Shiyes project and the possibility of organizing separate waste collection. At the end of the article, possible solutions to the problem of recycling solid waste are suggested, options for adaptation and motivation of the population to solve this problem are considered.

scholarly journals A Hybrid Methodology to Study Stakeholder Cooperation in Circular Economy Waste Management of Cities

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1845
Author(s):  
P. Giovani Palafox-Alcantar ◽  
Dexter V. L. Hunt ◽  
Chris D. F. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Preference Order ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste Management ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
The Uk

Successful transitioning to a circular economy city requires a holistic and inclusive approach that involves bringing together diverse actors and disciplines who may not have shared aims and objectives. It is desirable that stakeholders work together to create jointly-held perceptions of value, and yet cooperation in such an environment is likely to prove difficult in practice. The contribution of this paper is to show how collaboration can be engendered, or discord made transparent, in resource decision-making using a hybrid Game Theory approach that combines its inherent strengths with those of scenario analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis. Such a methodology consists of six steps: (1) define stakeholders and objectives; (2) construct future scenarios for Municipal Solid Waste Management; (3) survey stakeholders to rank the evaluation indicators; (4) determine the weights for the scenarios criteria; (5) reveal the preference order of the scenarios; and (6) analyse the preferences to reveal the cooperation and competitive opportunities. To demonstrate the workability of the method, a case study is presented: The Tyseley Energy Park, a major Energy-from-Waste facility that treats over two-thirds of the Municipal Solid Waste of Birmingham in the UK. The first phase of its decision-making involved working with the five most influential actors, resulting in recommendations on how to reach the most preferred and jointly chosen sustainable scenario for the site. The paper suggests a supporting decision-making tool so that cooperation is embedded in circular economy adoption and decisions are made optimally (as a collective) and are acceptable to all the stakeholders, although limited by bounded rationality.

scholarly journals Recycling Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste: Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4798
Author(s):  
José María Fernández-González ◽  
Carmen Díaz-López ◽  
Jaime Martín-Pascual ◽  
Montserrat Zamorano
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Municipal Solid Waste ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Organic Fraction ◽  
Body Of Knowledge

The organic fraction is usually the predominant fraction in municipal solid waste, so its recycling is a potential alternative to disposal in landfill sites, as well as helping to reach targets included in the European Circular Economy Package. The existing body of knowledge in this research field is very large, so a comprehensive review of the existing scientific literature has been considered of interest to provide researchers and professionals with a detailed understanding of the status quo and predict the dynamic directions of this field. A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis have been performed to provide objective criteria for evaluating the work carried out by researchers and a macroscopic overview of the existing body of knowledge in this field. The analysis of 452 scientific articles published from 1980 to 2019 has shown that the application of composting technologies is relevant, especially since 2014, when policies aimed at reducing emissions to the atmosphere were increased and focused on the use of this waste fraction to produce biogas. Nevertheless, the scientific field is still evolving to impose a model of a circular economy; in fact, emerging studies are being conducted on the production of biomethane, contributing to the decarbonised energy system.

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