Detail publikace

Plastics: friends or foes? The circularity and plastic waste footprint

Klemeš, J.J., Fan, Y.V., Jiang, P.

Originální název

Plastics: friends or foes? The circularity and plastic waste footprint

Typ

článek v časopise ve Web of Science, Jimp

Jazyk

angličtina

Originální abstrakt

The plastics are becoming one of the most discussed topics in media and research. They have been branded sometimes as evil, which has to be replaced, in some cases at any cost. However, an equitable analysis and assessment are needed comparing all pros and cons based on environmental footprints quantification with a complete life cycle assessment. These should include assessment of possible health risks, consumed energy, released emissions and effluents, as well as consumption of raw materials, water and dealing with the wastewater. The assessment of recyclability, reprocessing and environmental burden of disposal phases are also needed. This presented work tends to contribute to the discussion of what recommendations should be developed to the industry and business to minimize the environmental impacts. A novel Plastic Waste Footprint is proposed to understand the net potential impacts of plastic and to facilitate the decision making for plastic replacement. This study highlighted that plastic could be a friend if the Circular Economy (CE) is appropriately followed. Reduction (refrain, redesign/reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, remanufacture, repurpose), recycle and recovery (no leaking into the ocean or other streams) play the decisive roles to minimize and recover the embodied energy, promoting sustainable plastic values chain. Policy to regulate/encourage manufacturers toward sustainable practice (taxation, end of life collection, an incentive of using secondary raw materials) and education (refrain, reuse, separation and recycle) on the potential users are important from not evolving the plastic from friend with high functionality to foe.

Klíčová slova

Plastics; micro; and nanoplastics; sustainability; circular economy; plastic waste footprint; recycling; energy recovery; SOLID-WASTE; MANAGEMENT; ECONOMY; POLICY

Autoři

Klemeš, J.J., Fan, Y.V., Jiang, P.

Vydáno

15. 8. 2020

Nakladatel

TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC, 530 WALNUT STREET, STE 850, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106 USA

Místo

TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC, 530 WALNUT STREET, STE 850, PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106 USA

ISSN

1556-7036

Periodikum

Energy Sources Part A-Recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects

Číslo

1

Stát

Spojené státy americké

Strany od

10

Strany do

10

Strany počet

17

URL

BibTex

@article{BUT167759,
  author="Jiří {Klemeš} and Yee Van {Fan}",
  title="Plastics: friends or foes? The circularity and plastic waste footprint",
  journal="Energy Sources Part A-Recovery Utilization and Environmental Effects",
  year="2020",
  number="1",
  pages="10--10",
  doi="10.1080/15567036.2020.1801906",
  issn="1556-7036",
  url="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15567036.2020.1801906"
}