Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Aug;64(2):230-244.
doi: 10.1007/s00267-019-01178-3. Epub 2019 Jun 22.

Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) in the Context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Management

Ana Antelava  1 , Spyridon Damilos  2 , Sanaa Hafeez  1 , George Manos  2 , Sultan M Al-Salem  3 , Brajendra K Sharma  4 , Kirtika Kohli  4 , Achilleas Constantinou  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Plastic Solid Waste (PSW) in the Context of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Sustainable Management

Ana Antelava et al. Environ Manage. 2019 Aug.

Abstract

Over the past few decades, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been established as a critical tool for the evaluation of the environmental burdens of chemical processes and materials cycles. The increasing amount of plastic solid waste (PSW) in landfills has raised serious concern worldwide for the most effective treatment. Thermochemical post-treatment processes, such as pyrolysis, seem to be the most appropriate method to treat this type of waste in an effective manner. This is because such processes lead to the production of useful chemicals, or hydrocarbon oil of high calorific value (i.e. bio-oil in the case of pyrolysis). LCA appears to be the most appropriate tool for the process design from an environmental context. However, addressed limitations including initial assumptions, functional unit and system boundaries, as well as lack of regional database and exclusion of socio-economic aspects, may hinder the final decision. This review aims to address the benefits of pyrolysis as a method for PSW treatment and raise the limitations and gaps of conducted research via an environmental standpoint.

Keywords: Energy; LCA; Plastics; Pyrolysis; Recycling; Sustainable Management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Foreground and Background systems used explicitly by the EA (UK). Source: Clift et al. (2000)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. 4R Sustainability, Inc. (2011) Conversion technology: a complement to plastic recycling. https://plastics.americanchemistry.com/Plastics-to-Oil/
    1. Agilyx (2019) Driving innovations to make plastics a renewable resource. https://www.agilyx.com/. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
    1. Aguado J, Serrano DP, Escola JM, Garagorri E, Fernandez JA. Catalytic conversion of polyolefins into fuels over Zeolite beta. Polym Degrad Stab. 2000;69(1):11–16.
    1. Al-Fadhlee AA, Al-Salem, SM (2015) Life cycle assessment (LCA) of plastic solid waste (PSW) integrated feed to existing oil refineries in the state of Kuwait. In: Proc 7th Kuwait Waste Management & Recycling Conference & Exhibition. Kuwait City, State of Kuwait, 18th–19th April
    1. Almeida D, Marques M. Thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of plastic waste. Polímeros. 2016;26(1):44–51.