Operational framework to quantify 'quality of recycling' across different material types
- Author
- Martijn Roosen (UGent) , Davide Tonini, Paola Federica Albizzati, Dario Caro, Jorge Cristóbal, Irdanto Saputra Lase (UGent) , Kim Ragaert, Ann Dumoulin (UGent) and Steven De Meester (UGent)
- Organization
- Project
- Abstract
- Many pledges and laws are setting recycling targets without clearly defining quality of recycling. Striving to close this gap, this study presents an operational framework to quantify quality of recycling. The framework comprises three dimensions: the Virgin Displacement Potential (VDP); In-Use Stocks Lifetime (IUSL); and Environmental Impact (EI). The VDP indicates to what extent a secondary material can be used as a substitute for virgin material; the IUSL indicates how much of a certain material is still functional in society over a given time frame, and the EI is a measure of the environmental impact of a recycling process. The three dimensions are aggregated by plotting them in a distance-to-target graph. Two example calculations are included on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and glass. The results indicate that the recycling of bottle and container glass collected via a deposit-refund system has the lowest distance-to-target, at 1.05, and, thus, the highest quality of recycling. For PET bottles, the highest quality of recycling is achieved in closed-loop mechanical recycling of bottles (distance to optimal quality of 0.96). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis indicates that certain parameters, e.g., the collection rate for PET bottles, can reduce the distance-to-target to 0.75 when all bottles are collected for recycling.
- Keywords
- recycling, secondary materials, decision-making, substitutability, circular economy, PLASTIC PACKAGING WASTE, MATERIAL FLOW-ANALYSIS, RECOVERY, CRITICALITY, EUROPE, LCA, PET
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01H9037HYA493JZRB0Q8C5Y3SS
- MLA
- Roosen, Martijn, et al. “Operational Framework to Quantify ‘quality of Recycling’ across Different Material Types.” ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 57, no. 36, 2023, pp. 13669–80, doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c03023.
- APA
- Roosen, M., Tonini, D., Albizzati, P. F., Caro, D., Cristóbal, J., Lase, I. S., … De Meester, S. (2023). Operational framework to quantify “quality of recycling” across different material types. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, 57(36), 13669–13680. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c03023
- Chicago author-date
- Roosen, Martijn, Davide Tonini, Paola Federica Albizzati, Dario Caro, Jorge Cristóbal, Irdanto Saputra Lase, Kim Ragaert, Ann Dumoulin, and Steven De Meester. 2023. “Operational Framework to Quantify ‘quality of Recycling’ across Different Material Types.” ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 57 (36): 13669–80. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c03023.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Roosen, Martijn, Davide Tonini, Paola Federica Albizzati, Dario Caro, Jorge Cristóbal, Irdanto Saputra Lase, Kim Ragaert, Ann Dumoulin, and Steven De Meester. 2023. “Operational Framework to Quantify ‘quality of Recycling’ across Different Material Types.” ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 57 (36): 13669–13680. doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c03023.
- Vancouver
- 1.Roosen M, Tonini D, Albizzati PF, Caro D, Cristóbal J, Lase IS, et al. Operational framework to quantify “quality of recycling” across different material types. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. 2023;57(36):13669–80.
- IEEE
- [1]M. Roosen et al., “Operational framework to quantify ‘quality of recycling’ across different material types,” ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 57, no. 36, pp. 13669–13680, 2023.
@article{01H9037HYA493JZRB0Q8C5Y3SS,
abstract = {{Many pledges and laws are setting recycling targets without clearly defining quality of recycling. Striving to close this gap, this study presents an operational framework to quantify quality of recycling. The framework comprises three dimensions: the Virgin Displacement Potential (VDP); In-Use Stocks Lifetime (IUSL); and Environmental Impact (EI). The VDP indicates to what extent a secondary material can be used as a substitute for virgin material; the IUSL indicates how much of a certain material is still functional in society over a given time frame, and the EI is a measure of the environmental impact of a recycling process. The three dimensions are aggregated by plotting them in a distance-to-target graph. Two example calculations are included on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and glass. The results indicate that the recycling of bottle and container glass collected via a deposit-refund system has the lowest distance-to-target, at 1.05, and, thus, the highest quality of recycling. For PET bottles, the highest quality of recycling is achieved in closed-loop mechanical recycling of bottles (distance to optimal quality of 0.96). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis indicates that certain parameters, e.g., the collection rate for PET bottles, can reduce the distance-to-target to 0.75 when all bottles are collected for recycling.}},
author = {{Roosen, Martijn and Tonini, Davide and Albizzati, Paola Federica and Caro, Dario and Cristóbal, Jorge and Lase, Irdanto Saputra and Ragaert, Kim and Dumoulin, Ann and De Meester, Steven}},
issn = {{0013-936X}},
journal = {{ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY}},
keywords = {{recycling,secondary materials,decision-making,substitutability,circular economy,PLASTIC PACKAGING WASTE,MATERIAL FLOW-ANALYSIS,RECOVERY,CRITICALITY,EUROPE,LCA,PET}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{36}},
pages = {{13669--13680}},
title = {{Operational framework to quantify 'quality of recycling' across different material types}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c03023}},
volume = {{57}},
year = {{2023}},
}
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