Loading...
Publication
Looking beyond the banning of lightweight bags: analysing the role of plastic (and fuel) impacts in waste collection at a Portuguese city
| Name: | Description: | Size: | Format: | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.15 MB | Adobe PDF |
Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
The purpose of this work is to assess the environmental impacts of the collection of mixed municipal solid waste (MSW) in a
selected neighbourhood of the Portuguese city of Aveiro. To this purpose, the main elements necessary for the collection process
(carrier bags, dustbins, street containers and vehicles) were analysed applying the life cycle assessment methodology, making use
of locally gathered data. The main impacts associated with this activity are mostly related to the use of polyethylene plastic bags
to carry the waste from the household to the waste container, and to the fuel consumption of collection vehicle that picks MSW
from street containers and transports it to the treatment facility. The impacts associated with the plastic bags were primarily due to
their disposal in a sanitary landfill after use and secondarily to the consumption of fossil raw materials required for their
production. Given the relative high impact of the plastic bags, alternative scenarios were tested: using bags entirely produced
with recycled polyethylene and bags produced with bio-based plastics derived from starch (TPS) and from wastewater (PHA).
PHA bio-based bags were found to perform slightly better than conventional high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bags, but HDPE
bags with 100% recycled content remained as the environmentally best option. A sensitivity analysis was performed to check the
influence of bag size. Regarding the fuel consumption by collection vehicles, a comparison was performed to check how sitespecific
conditions can influence the impact of this activity, resulting in remarkably higher consumptions when local data were
used instead of reference databases.
Description
Keywords
Municipal waste collection Life cycle assessment Environmental performance Bioplastic Polyhydroxyalkanoates Thermoplastic starch Recycled polyethylene Fuel consumption