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Sustainable Management and Recovery Potential of plastic
waste from the commercial and private household sectors
Ingo Sartorius/Joachim Wuttke
OECD Global Forum, Mechelen, 25 October 2010
Mechelen 25.10.2010 2
Content
Introduction
• Plastics are sustainable materials
• Life cycle consideration
• Principles of plastics waste management
o 3 Options: mechanical, feedstock and energy recovery
o Cost & environmental aspects
o Conclusion: Divert from landfill
Plastics waste management in Germany
The European challenge
Conclusion
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Automotive
Building/
Construction
Packaging
Electrical/
Electronics
Agriculture
Medicine
Plastics are sustainable materials
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Product use
90%
Disposal
0,2%
Production,
Transport
9,8%
Plastics material management in products: The use phase dominates
Source: Report ENV Ministry Lower Saxony
*) electric stove, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer
cumulated energy demand
of large household appliances*
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Plastics Value Chain in Europe 2009 – data for EU-27 plus CH/NO –
Import
Export
Household (post-
consumer)
Con- sumer
demand
Waste 28 Mt
24 Mt
Industry, Commerce
(post- industrial)
4 Mt
Import
Export
Pro- duction
55 Mt
Con- sumption
45 Mt
Export
Import
Source: Consultic
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Options for Recovery of Plastics Waste
RECOVERY
MATERIAL RECOVERY ENERGY RECOVERY
ALTERNATIVE
FUEL
(cement, power)
MECHANICAL
RECYCLING
(Plastic products)
FEEDSTOCK
RECYCLING
(Chemical raw materials)
DIRECT
INCINERATION
(MSWI)
MSWI = Municipal Solid Waste Incineration
= Recycling
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When to choose which option?
• Mechanical recycling
by remelting and compounding
• Feedstock recycling
by decomposition of polymeric materials e.g. gasification, blast furnace, hydrogenisa- tion, pyrolysis, solvolysis, de-polymerisation
• Energy recovery
by incineration with energy recovery e.g. in MSWI, cement kiln, substitution of oil/coke in power generation
Criteria:
pure grade, clean mixed or type alike, soiled
mixed, soiled
Waste quality is decisive
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Mechanical recycling is preferred, if …
…homogeneous, ‘clean’ waste streams
…can replace virgin on close to 1:1 basis
…markets exist or can be developed when specifications are met
PET bottles
PE recyclate HIPS recycling pellet PP recyclate
PVC recyclate
mixed plastics recyclate
PET flakes from sor- ted packaging waste
Prerequisite for recyclates:
Technical qualities have to be fulfilled to be competitive on the market; therefore
products containing recyclates usually go in other applications than the original one
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Characteristics for both recovery options:
• Suitable for mixed, laminated or soiled plastic wastes
• Secured emission control and plant safety due to strict permit law
• Often in an existing large industrial installation under market conditions
Feedstock recycling and energy recovery
Feedstock recycling
Principle:
conversion of organic waste into
hydrocarbons and feed them into
plants of chemical industry
Technology examples:
• Depolymerisation
• Gasification
• Pyrolysis
• Metal smelters
• Blast furnace
Energy recovery
Principle:
utilising energy resources from organic
waste by direct incineration via co-com-
bustion or substitution of fuel (e.g. SRF)
Technology examples:
• Modern incinerators (>65% eff.)
• Cement kiln
• Power plants
• Pulp & paper industry
MSWI plant Spittelau/Vienna, AT
Blast furnace of voestalpine/Linz, AT
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Key factors to an optimised sustainable waste management
• Waste quality
• Environmental effects
• Costs
• Amounts for scale-up
• Competitive technologies available in the market
• Demand for products of waste recovery operations
• Regional infrastructure
• Legal frame conditions
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Life Cycle Assessment for Recovery Routes of Plastics Packaging
-60
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
Bottl
es
Films
Pipes
Palisad
es
Bas
e of h
oard
ings
Blast
furn
ace
Therm
olysi
s
Gas
ifica
tion
Co-C
ombus
tion
Dru
m b
ed in
ciner
atio
n
Cem
ent k
iln
En
erg
y i
n M
J/k
g r
ec
ove
red
pla
sti
c
-40,1
-31,5
-54,8
-7,1 -5,2
-29,3 -28,6 -26,4
-28,1
-34
-27,9
-29,8
Mechanical Feedstock Energy Recovery
Source:
Ökobilanz der Verwertungswege 1995
Hyde/Kremer, LCA-Documents 1999
Input
bottles, films
Input
mixed plastics
Landfill
1. Recovery is better than disposal 2. No single option can be assigned as best
-13,4
-15,9
En
erg
y S
avin
gs c
om
pare
d t
o L
an
dfi
ll
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Mechanical recycling
of post-
consumer waste (Auto, EE, packaging)
Energy recovery
waste
incineration
Feedstock recovery
synthesis production
Energy recovery
power station, cement kiln
Landfill
Euro / t
industrial film
mixed, complex waste
Waste Management Options – Economics
Source: tecpol, UBA
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Landfill is the least preferred option
• Large quantities of Greenhouse Gas emissions
(food, bio waste)
• Waste of material and energy
resources (metals, plastics …)
Consequently:
Extend the recovery of material and energy is key
(recycling, composting, energy recovery)
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Plastics value chain in Germany 2009
Import
Export
Household (post- consumer)
Consumer
demand Waste 4,9 Mt
4,0 Mt
Industry, Commerce (post- industrial)
0,9 Mt
Import
Export
Pro-
duction
17,0 Mt
Con-
sumption
10,7 Mt
Export
Import
>99% Recovery
>97% Recovery
Source: Consultic 2010
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Different qualities of waste
Plastics waste from commercial end-user collection
Plastics waste from private
end-user collection
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Plastics waste management in Germany today
Plastics waste management in Germany Amount of recovered plastics
waste raised from 1,4 mio t (‘94) to 4.8 mio t (2009)
Recovery market under competitive environment
Recovery technologies and routes for plastics waste have been established
Recovery of plastic rich waste streams from 50% (1994) to 97% (2009)
9 dual systems for packaging (all types) collection from households
Bi-annual statistics by independent
external institute with reputation to e.g. UBA:
CONSULTIC GmbH, Alzenau/Germany
0 kt
1.000 kt
2.000 kt
3.000 kt
4.000 kt
5.000 kt
6.000 kt
1994 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007
total
recovery
landfill
divertfrom
landfill
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Post-consumer plastics waste managm‘t in Europe (EU-27 plus CH/NO) 2009
Better than
EU average:
Central Europe
+ FR, NO, SE
Below average:
‚outer regions‘
> 80% recovery
> 50% recovery
> 20% recovery
< 20% recovery
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The comprehensive view: plastics are sustainable materials
Past Target: Safeguard functionality
High recyclability (Metals dominate)
Low recyclability (complex products lead to high
expenditure by dismantling) Future Target: Optimal mix from - Functionality - Price - Safety, comfort - Saving of fuel & Emissions
Goal: Sustainability of products along its life cycle
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Knowledge Transfer Project of PlasticsEurope
• Contribute to sustainable waste management of end-of-life products containing plastics by utilising its material and energy resources
• Focus on countries with „window-of-opportunity“ by identification via country assessment
• Todays focus is France, Poland, Spain and UK, while further countries emerge
• Use the know-how about plastics waste management and make it effective locally
- Establish relationships with stakeholders in value chain
- Support to dialogue and networking
- Contribute to information and education
- Use communication channels (conferences, media, publication etc)
- Provide technical support
• For discussion: interest and further support and development by OECD ?
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Ingo Sartorius
PlasticsEurope
Tel. +49 69 2556 1309
Joachim Wuttke
Umweltbundesamt
Tel. +49 340 2103 3459