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

Mechelen 25.10.2010 3

Automotive

Building/

Construction

Packaging

Electrical/

Electronics

Agriculture

Medicine

Plastics are sustainable materials

Mechelen 25.10.2010 4

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*

Mechelen 25.10.2010 5

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

Mechelen 25.10.2010 12

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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Mechelen 25.10.2010 22

Ingo Sartorius

PlasticsEurope

Tel. +49 69 2556 1309

ingo.sartorius@plasticseurope.org

Joachim Wuttke

Umweltbundesamt

Tel. +49 340 2103 3459

joachim.wuttke@uba.de