Part of special issue: Sustainable Cycles and Management of Plastics (May 2019 to Oct 2020)
Edited by Wei-Qiang Chen, Luca Ciacci, Roland Geyer, Henning Wilts, Toshiaki Yoshioka
Last update 2 October 2020
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/resources-conservation-and-recycling/special-issue/101JBPWHLNP
Table of Contents
Sustainable cycles and management of plastics: A brief review of RCR publications in 2019 and early 2020
Wei-Qiang Chen $^{a}$, Luca Ciacci $^{b}$, Ning-Ning Sun $^{a}, Toshiaki Yoshioka $^{c}$
$^a$ Key Lab of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1799 Jimei Road, Xiamen 361021, China
$^b$ Department of Industrial Chemistry “Toso Montanari”, University of Bologna, Viale del Risorgimento 4, 40136 Bologna, Italy
$^c$ Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 6-6-07 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980–8579, Japan
11 April 2020
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344920301439#bib0005
Structure of the global plastic waste trade network and the impact of China’s import Ban
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344919304975?via%3Dihub
Chao Wang $^a$, Longfeng Zhao $^{b,c}$, et al.
$^a$ Research Base of Beijing Modern Manufacturing Development, College of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
$^b$ School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, China
$^c$ School of Management, Xi’an Polytechnic University, Xi’an, China
Received 26 March 2019, Revised 8 November 2019, Accepted 8 November 2019, Available online 20 November 2019.
- Global plastic waste trade networks (GPWTNs) from 1988 to 2017 are established.
- The direct and indirect impacts of China’s import ban on the GPWTNs are evaluated.
- Data derived from United Nations Commodity Trade Database (UN-Comtrade, see http://comtrade.un.org/), covering bilateral trade flows among countries. The code of plastic waste is HS 3915, which represents waste, parings and scrap of plastics. The units of measurement are available as both the net weight (kg) and value (US dollar).
- Considering China and Hongkong separately regarding Hongkong’s special position as an international re-exporting port.
Post-consumer packaging waste from express delivery in China
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344919300412?via%3Dihub
Huabo Duan $^a$, Guanghan Song $^a$, Shen Qu $^b$, Xiaobin Dong $^c$, Ming Xu $^{b,d}$
$^a$ School of Civil Engineering, Shenzhen University, 518060, Shenzhen, China
$^b$ School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-1041, USA
$^c$ State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
$^d$ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2125, USA
Received 15 November 2018, Revised 10 January 2019, Accepted 21 January 2019, Available online 28 January 2019.
- Dynamic material flow analysis (MFA) for quanfying and predicting post-consumer packaging waste from express delivery involves the following steps:
- Determine the delivery quantity from the sum of the amount of inter- and intra-city parcels in a given year.
- Determine the total weight of all types of packaging materials.
- Determine the EoL(end-of-life) flows for each packaging material type.
- Data from National Bureau of Statistics of China(1996-2007) and National Post Bureau of China(2008-2017).
Global environmental losses of plastics across their value chains
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344919303659
Morten W. Ryberg $^a$, Michael Z. Hauschild $^a$, Feng Wang $^b$, Sandra Averous-Monnery $^b$, Alexis Laurent $^a$
$^a$ Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Group, Sustainability Division, DTU Management, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Produktionstorvet, Building 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
$^b$ UN Environment, 1 rue Miollis, Building VII, 75015 Paris, France
Quantitative Sustainability Assessment Group, Sustainability Division, DTU Management, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Produktionstorvet, Building 424, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Received 26 March 2019, Revised 12 August 2019, Accepted 22 August 2019, Available online 28 August 2019.
Abstract
- Trying to provide with a comprehensive quantification of plastics losses in the world in 2015, covering varied regions, polymers and plastics value chains.
- Approximately 6.2 Mt (95% confidence interval, CI: 2.0–20.4 Mt) of macroplastics and 3.0 Mt (CI: 1.5–5.2 Mt) of microplastics were lost to the environment in 2015.
- The major macroplastic loss source was the mismanaged municipal solid waste (MSW) management in low-income and lower-middle income countries. For microplastics, the major sources were abrasion of tyre rubbers, abrasion of road markings and plastics contributing to city dust generation.
1. Introduction
- Previous studies narrowed the system scope, e.g. parts of the world, specific polymers or only parts of the plastic life cycle.
- Cross-references to an UN Environment report (Mapping of Global Plastic Value Chain and Plastic losses to the Environment (with a particular focus on marine environment)).
2. Methodology
2.1. Global plastic production and consumption
- Production data complied with different regions is mainly from PlasticsEurope 2016 and consumption data is direved from Plastics Insight 2016.
- Divided the world into 11 regions.
Table S1 Geographical distribution of global production and consumption of plastics in 2015
| Region | Plastic production | Plastic consumption1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of global production | Reference | Per capita plastic consumption [kg/cap] | Reference | Population [capita; (World Bank, 2017)] | Total consumption [Mt] | Share of global consumption | ||
| North America | 18.50% | (PlasticsEurope, 2016) | 139 | (Plastics Insight, 2016a) | 482,763,846 | 67 | 21% | |
| Western Europe | 18.50% | (PlasticsEurope, 2016) | 136 | (Plastics Insight, 2016a) | 427,942,967 | 58 | 18% | |
| Japan | 4.30% | (PlasticsEurope, 2016) | 108 | (Plastics Insight, 2016a) | 127,141,000 | 14 | 4% | |
| Eastern Europe & Central Asia | 2.60% | (PlasticsEurope, 2016) | 48 | (Plastics Insight, 2016a) | 399,785,149 | 19 | 6% | |
| Asia (excl. Japan, India, and China) | 7.60% | Overall distribution from (PlasticsEurope, 2016). Distributed between India and “Asia (excl. Japan, India, and China)” based on population (World Bank, 2017). | 22 | (Plastics Insight, 2016a) | 1,147,123,784 | 25 | 8% | |
| Africa | 5.30% | Overall distribution from (PlasticsEurope, 2016). Distributed between Middle East and Africa based on population (World Bank, 2017). | 13 | (Panda et al., 2010) | 1,100,367,965 | 14 | 4% | |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 4.40% | (PlasticsEurope, 2016) | 56 | (Plastics Insight, 2016b), scaled up to full plastic consumption based on information on PE, PP, and PVC resins | 506,305,451 | 27 | 8% | |
| Oceania | 0.30% | (Commonwealth of Australia, 2016) | 84 | (FAO/ICAC, 2011; PACIA, 2011) | 39,518,729 | 3 | 1% | |
| India | 8.70% | Overall distribution from (PlasticsEurope, 2016). Distributed between India and “Asia (excl. Japan, India, and China)” based on population (World Bank, 2017). | 13 | (Plastindia Foundation, 2014) | 1,309,053,980 | 17 | 5% | |
| China | 27.80% | (PlasticsEurope, 2016) | 45 | (Plastindia Foundation, 2014) | 1,402,753,098 | 63 | 20% | |
| Middle East | 2.00% | Overall distribution from (PlasticsEurope, 2016). Distributed between Middle East and Africa based on population (World Bank, 2017). | 38 | Estimated based on literature (Panda et al., 2010; Plastics Insight, 2016a) | 413,690,442 | 16 | 5% | |
| World average | 44 | 7,356,446,411 | 323 | 100% |
Table S3. Global plastic consumption distributed on different plastic applications. Table is from UN Environment (2018)
| Application | Amount [Mt] | Share [%] | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation - Other | 47.5 | 12% | (Geyer et al., 2017; Grand View Research, 2017) |
| Transportation - Tyres | 7.1 | 2% | (ETRMA, 2011; Geyer et al., 2017) |
| Packaging | 115 | 30% | (European Bioplastics, 2017; Geyer et al., 2017) |
| Building and Construction | 64.1 | 17% | (European Bioplastics, 2017; Geyer et al., 2017) |
| Electrical/Electronic | 15.7 | 4% | (European Bioplastics, 2017; Geyer et al., 2017) |
| Consumer & Institutional Products | 40.6 | 10% | (European Bioplastics, 2017; Geyer et al., 2017) |
| Industrial/Machinery | 2 | 0.50% | (Geyer et al., 2017) |
| Other | 56.6 | 15% | (European Bioplastics, 2017; Geyer et al., 2017) |
| Marine coatings | 0.45 | 0.10% | (Boucher and Friot, 2017) |
| Personal care products | 0.03 | 0.01% | (Boucher and Friot, 2017; Geyer et al., 2017; Gouin et al., 2015) |
| Road marking | 0.59 | 0.20% | (Boucher and Friot, 2017) |
| Textile sector - clothing | 24.9 | 6% | (Geyer et al., 2017; Grand View Research, 2017) |
| Textile sector - others | 13.5 | 3% | (Geyer et al., 2017; Grand View Research, 2017) |
- The amount of plastics used in the different applications was estimated based on Geyer et al. (2017)
Table S5 Distribution of different polymers according to plastic application. Table is from UN Environment (2018)
| Application type | Polymer type | LDPE, LLDPE | HDPE | PP | PS | PVC | PET | PUR | Other | Fibers | Marine coatings | Road marking coatings | Elastomers (tyres) | Bioplastics | ABS, ASA, SAN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation - Other | 1% | 5% | 15% | 3% | 19% | 35% | 10% | 7% | 16% | ||||||
| Transportation - Tyres | 100% | ||||||||||||||
| Packaging | 68% | 57% | 49% | 30% | 8% | 100% | 2% | 2% | 58% | ||||||
| Building and Construction | 6% | 20% | 7% | 29% | 69% | 29% | 12% | 4% | 3% | ||||||
| Electrical/Electronic | 3% | 1% | 5% | 8% | 3% | 5% | 7% | 2% | 27% | ||||||
| Consumer & Institutional Products | 15% | 10% | 22% | 24% | 5% | 12% | 5% | 7% | 44% | ||||||
| Industrial/Machinery | 1% | 1% | 1% | 4% | |||||||||||
| Other | 8% | 6% | 9% | 12% | 30% | 39% | 18% | 11% | 8% | ||||||
| Marine coatings | 100% | ||||||||||||||
| Personal care products | 0.06%2 | 0.001%2 | |||||||||||||
| Road marking | 100% | ||||||||||||||
| Textile sector - clothing | 46% | 11% | |||||||||||||
| Textile sector - Others | 25% | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Reference | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
$^1$ Distribution based on Geyer et al. (2017).$^2$ Plastic type distribution for personal care products and cosmetics was based on Boucher and Friot (2017).$^3$ Fiber application distribution based on Grand View Research (2017).$^4$ All marine coating polymers go towards marine coating application.$^5$ All road marking coating polymers go towards marine coating application.$^6$ All Elastomers (tyres) goes towards tyre production.$^7$ Distribution based on European Bioplastics (2017).$^8$ Distribution based on Grand View Research (2015).
- Due to a lack of more specific data, it was generally assumed that distribution of plastic applications was the same across geographical regions.
- It was assumed that the polymers used in the different applications were equal across regions.
Life cycle assessment of end-of-life treatments of waste plastics in China
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092134491930117X?via%3Dihub
