Environmental and Socio-economic Pareto-front Trade-off Analysis of U.S. PET Packaging Material in a Circular Economy

Journal Article · Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Sustainable Production and Consumption

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2025.09.009· OSTI ID:3025387

Hossain, Tasmin ^[1]; Hartley, Damon S ^[1]; Thompson, Vicki S ^[1]; Chaudhari, Utkarsh S. ^[2]; Watkins, David W. ^[2]; Handler, Robert M. ^[2]; Reck, Barbara K. ^[3]; Johnson, Anne T. ^[4]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory
2. Michigan Technological University
3. Yale School of Environment
4. Resource Recycling Systems

Various recycling technologies are emerging to implement circular economy in plasticssupply chain systems. However, the environmental and socio-economic trade-offs of in circular economy are not well understood at a systems level. Particularly, quantifying these trade-offs as a function of end-of-life (EOL) management decisions, including transition of recycling technologies, systems level metrics such as circularity, recycled content, and the need for fossil-derived plastics are not well understood. The present study addressed these research gaps by applying a systems analysis modeling approach that utilizes material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, socioeconomic data, and system optimization techniques for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) packaging supply chains in the United States. Pareto-front trade-offs between conflicting environmental and socio-economic impacts as well as those between socioeconomic impacts and circularity were explored using the epsilon constraint method. The Pareto-front trade-off analysis revealed the transition of EOL management strategies for PET packaging systems, including changes in selection of recycling technologies, to aid decision making process by quantifying studied system metrics. Transitioning from environmentally optimal to socio-economically optimal systems led to increased employment (by 17%), wages (by 26%), and revenues (by 6%) but also led to increased global warming potential (GWP; by 65%), energy consumption (by 59%), and reliance on fossil PET in the system (by 78%). Finally, the results show that there is not a unique set of recycling technologies to achieve a sustainable circular economy of PET packaging system, instead it depends on the decision maker’s objectives and targeted metrics of the system.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 3025387
• Report Number(s): INL/JOU-26-89990
• Journal Information: Sustainable Production and Consumption, Journal Name: Sustainable Production and Consumption Journal Issue: 0 Vol. 60
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 - ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES/GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE STUDIES AND CLIMATE MITIGATION
Circular Economy
Optimization
Socio-economics
Trade-offs
Waste plastics