Comparing Parallel Plastic‐to‐X Pathways and Their Role in a Circular Economy for PET Bottles
- Strategic Energy Analysis Center National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden Colorado 80401 USA
The United States generates the most plastic waste of any country and is a top contributor to global plastic pollution. Multiple end‐of‐life strategies must be implemented to minimize environmental impacts and retain valuable plastic material, but it is challenging to compare options that generate products with different lifetimes and utilities. Herein, they present a material flow model equipped with consequential life cycle assessment, cost analysis, and a plastic circularity indicator that considers product quality and lifetime. The model is used to estimate the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, circularity, and cost of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottle mechanical downcycling to lower‐quality resin, closed‐loop glycolysis to food‐grade PET, upcycling to glass fiber‐reinforced plastic, and conversion to non‐plastic products (electricity, oil) on a United States economy‐wide basis for the year 2020. A brute force algorithm suggests that a combination of 68% glycolysis, 11% mechanical recycling, 6% upcycling, 9% landfilling, and 5% incineration can minimize the cost and GHG emissions and maximize the circularity of the current PET economy. However, uncertainty around transportation distances, materials recovery facility efficiencies, and recycling yields can result in different “optimal” pathway mixes. This flexible framework enables informed decision‐making to move toward a cost‐ and environment‐conscious circular economy for plastic.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Industrial Efficiency & Decarbonization Office (IEDO)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- OSTI ID:
- 1985190
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1992026
OSTI ID: 1995331
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA--6A20-85165; 2300068
- Journal Information:
- Advanced Sustainable Systems, Journal Name: Advanced Sustainable Systems Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 8; ISSN 2366-7486
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- Germany
- Language:
- English