End-of-life options

Biodegradable products are designed for applications where the functional property of biodegradability is a sustainable feature and is of value to the customer. The products show their potential at the end-of-use phase. The preferred end-of-life option for biodegradable products made of Ecoflex is composting. To make sure... 

When looking at the life cycle of biodegradable plastics, two aspects are of particular importance the end-of-life options and the use of renewable resources in the material production (the major part of the currently available biodegradable plastic products are made of blends of fossil-based polymers and polymers derived from biomass). 

Waste in the EU contains approximately 30-40% of organic waste. For the disposal of this organic waste, different end of-life-options are possible landfilling, incineration and biological treatment. 

Process and product models are commonly used for performing LCAs of the environmental impacts of materials and products through different stages of fabrication, use, and end-of-life options. In a recent article, it was shown that these models can be represented as process flow diagrams or as matrices of process interactions. Matrix representations are advantageous if application cost, feedback flow, or speed of analysis is important. They are also useful in conjunction with comprehensive, general equilibrium models in which the system boundary of the problem (e.g., an LCA of a product) being analyzed is on the level of the national economy (Hendrickson et al., 1998). Rich communities bear a responsibility to pioneer a path toward sustainable consumption (Myers, 1997). 

Handley, C., Brandon, N., van der Vorst, R. (2002). Impact of the European vehicle waste directive on end-of-life options for polymer electrolyte fuel cells. /. Power Sources 106,344-352. 

Figure 5.2. Product end-of-life value versus cost for multiple end-of-life options.

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) offers 100% bio-based carbon content for a zero material carbon footprint and both compostability and recycling as viable end-of-life options. NatureWorks LLC (a Cargill subsidiary) manufactures 140 000 tons/year of PLA under the trade name Ingeo for packaging and industrial applications (see www.natureworksllc.com, accessed 23 June 2013). 

Sustainability has many definitions. One way to think of it is meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development held by the United Nations in 1983). The concept of sustainability is that we should synchronize our consumption of natural resources with the Earth s production - in other words, using up natural resources at the same rate at which they are produced. Compared to traditional polymers typically made from petroleum and other fossil resources such as natural gas, sustainable polymers are fuUy or partially biobased and/or biodegradable or compostable. They are bioplastics made from renewable resources (biomass) and can be broken down faster than traditional plastics. Sustainable polymers could also protect our Earth by offering a reduced carbon footprint, a reduced use of fossil resources, and improved end-of-life options. 

A product life cycle includes a sequence of activities from design to material acquisition to disposal, all influenced by the designer [3-5]. A generic life cycle template, with various end-of-life options, is shown in Fig. 33.2. 

Fig. 33.2 A generic life cycle model with end-of-life options...

Kiritsis D, Bufardi A, XirouchaMs, P (2(K)3) Multi-criteria decision aid for product end of life options selection. In IEEE international symposium on electronics and the environment IEEE, New York, pp 48-53... 

Krikke HR, Van Harten A, Schuur PC (1998) On a medium term product recovery and disposal strategy for durable assembly noducts. Int J Prod Res 36(1) 111-140 Lee SG, Lye SW, Khoo MK (2001) A multi-objective methodology fm evaluating product end-of-life options and disassembly. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 18(2) 148-156 Lund RT (1984) Remanufacturing. Technol Rev 87(2) 19-23, 28... 

End-of-Life Treatment No study considers end-of-life treatment in its analysis due to the lack of information available at this time of development. However, nearly all studies point out that a reuse or recycling of components would decrease the impacts considerably. In the Real-SOFC project, possible end-of-life options are described qualitatively considering high thermal and chemical processes to show possible solutions to decrease the amount of primary material [85]. 

End-of-life options for the product should be designed at the beginning of a product life rather than at the end of it. The design goal should be product-targeted durability rather than product immortality. Universal functionality should not be a design goal. 

Cradle-to-gate analysis was used. End-of-life options, conversion to plastic products, product use, and transportation to retail outlets are not considered. 

E.3.3 List all of the energy, transportation, wastes, and pollution of a product that you use every day during the end-of-life options of that product. 

The LCA results for hiobased polyethylene demonstrate the abiUty of sugarcane to absorb CO2 during the growing season resulting in a net reduction in greenhouse gases. Additional LCA calculated including end-of-life options are presented in Chapter 7. 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides a Waste Reduction Model (WARM) to calculate the environmental impacts of end-of-life options for products, including plastics. The US EPA WARM calculates GHG emissions for source reduction, recycling, waste-to-energy, and landfill end-of-life options. The US EPA WARM provides information about recycling, sources reduction, waste-to-energy, and landfill processes. WARM calculations are available in web-based calculator and as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. WARM has databases for over 45 material types and GHG emissions are provided in metric tons of C02eq or metric tons of carbon equivalent (EPA Waste Reduction Model 2013). 

Industrial compost is a viable end-of-life option for compostable plastics but not traditional plastics. Compostable plastics biodegrade under industrial composting conditions (Greene 2007b Greene 2008 Greene 2009). 

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