Exposing the pitfalls of plastics mechanical recycling through cost calculation
- Author
- Nicola Van Camp (UGent) , Irdanto Saputra Lase, Steven De Meester (UGent) , Sophie Hoozée (UGent) and Kim Ragaert
- Organization
- Project
- Abstract
- The plastic industry needs to match the recycling goals set by the EU. Next to technological hurdles, the cost of plastics mechanical recycling is an important modality in this transition. This paper reveals how business economic cost calculation can expose significant pitfalls in the recycling process, by unravelling limitations and boundary conditions, such as scale. By combining the business economic methodology with a Material Flow Analysis, this paper shows the influence of mass retention of products, the capacity of the processing lines, scaling of input capacity, and waste composition on the recycling process and associated costs. Two cases were investigated: (i) the Initial Sorting in a medium size Material Recovery Facility and (ii) an improved mechanical recycling process for flexibles - known as the Quality Recycling Process - consisting of Additional Sorting and Improved Recycling. Assessing the whole recycling chain gives a more holistic insight into the influences of choices and operating parameters on subsequent costs in other parts of the chain and results in a more accurate cost of recycled plastic products. This research concluded that the cost of Initial Sorting of flexibles is 110,08-122,53 EUR/t, while the cost of subsequent Additional Sorting and Improved Recycling ranges from 566,26 EUR/t for rPE Flex to 735,47 EUR/t for rPP Film, these insights can be used to determine a fair price for plastic products. For the Quality Recycling Process it was shown that rationalisation according to the identified pitfalls can reduce the cost per tonne of product by 15-26%.
- Keywords
- Flexibles, Plastics recycling, Cost calculation, Business economics, Fair pricing, MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITIES, PACKAGING WASTE, FAIR PRICE, COLLECTION, MANAGEMENT, SYSTEMS, PERFORMANCE, EFFICIENCY, QUALITY, FLOWS
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Citation
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-01J6Y4CK1SZ4E4M6W737A5EJW3
- MLA
- Van Camp, Nicola, et al. “Exposing the Pitfalls of Plastics Mechanical Recycling through Cost Calculation.” WASTE MANAGEMENT, vol. 189, 2024, pp. 300–13, doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2024.08.017.
- APA
- Van Camp, N., Lase, I. S., De Meester, S., Hoozée, S., & Ragaert, K. (2024). Exposing the pitfalls of plastics mechanical recycling through cost calculation. WASTE MANAGEMENT, 189, 300–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2024.08.017
- Chicago author-date
- Van Camp, Nicola, Irdanto Saputra Lase, Steven De Meester, Sophie Hoozée, and Kim Ragaert. 2024. “Exposing the Pitfalls of Plastics Mechanical Recycling through Cost Calculation.” WASTE MANAGEMENT 189: 300–313. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2024.08.017.
- Chicago author-date (all authors)
- Van Camp, Nicola, Irdanto Saputra Lase, Steven De Meester, Sophie Hoozée, and Kim Ragaert. 2024. “Exposing the Pitfalls of Plastics Mechanical Recycling through Cost Calculation.” WASTE MANAGEMENT 189: 300–313. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2024.08.017.
- Vancouver
- 1.Van Camp N, Lase IS, De Meester S, Hoozée S, Ragaert K. Exposing the pitfalls of plastics mechanical recycling through cost calculation. WASTE MANAGEMENT. 2024;189:300–13.
- IEEE
- [1]N. Van Camp, I. S. Lase, S. De Meester, S. Hoozée, and K. Ragaert, “Exposing the pitfalls of plastics mechanical recycling through cost calculation,” WASTE MANAGEMENT, vol. 189, pp. 300–313, 2024.
@article{01J6Y4CK1SZ4E4M6W737A5EJW3,
abstract = {{The plastic industry needs to match the recycling goals set by the EU. Next to technological hurdles, the cost of plastics mechanical recycling is an important modality in this transition. This paper reveals how business economic cost calculation can expose significant pitfalls in the recycling process, by unravelling limitations and boundary conditions, such as scale. By combining the business economic methodology with a Material Flow Analysis, this paper shows the influence of mass retention of products, the capacity of the processing lines, scaling of input capacity, and waste composition on the recycling process and associated costs. Two cases were investigated: (i) the Initial Sorting in a medium size Material Recovery Facility and (ii) an improved mechanical recycling process for flexibles - known as the Quality Recycling Process - consisting of Additional Sorting and Improved Recycling. Assessing the whole recycling chain gives a more holistic insight into the influences of choices and operating parameters on subsequent costs in other parts of the chain and results in a more accurate cost of recycled plastic products. This research concluded that the cost of Initial Sorting of flexibles is 110,08-122,53 EUR/t, while the cost of subsequent Additional Sorting and Improved Recycling ranges from 566,26 EUR/t for rPE Flex to 735,47 EUR/t for rPP Film, these insights can be used to determine a fair price for plastic products. For the Quality Recycling Process it was shown that rationalisation according to the identified pitfalls can reduce the cost per tonne of product by 15-26%.}},
author = {{Van Camp, Nicola and Lase, Irdanto Saputra and De Meester, Steven and Hoozée, Sophie and Ragaert, Kim}},
issn = {{0956-053X}},
journal = {{WASTE MANAGEMENT}},
keywords = {{Flexibles,Plastics recycling,Cost calculation,Business economics,Fair pricing,MATERIAL RECOVERY FACILITIES,PACKAGING WASTE,FAIR PRICE,COLLECTION,MANAGEMENT,SYSTEMS,PERFORMANCE,EFFICIENCY,QUALITY,FLOWS}},
language = {{eng}},
pages = {{300--313}},
title = {{Exposing the pitfalls of plastics mechanical recycling through cost calculation}},
url = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2024.08.017}},
volume = {{189}},
year = {{2024}},
}
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