IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i17p13119-d1229915.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A System Dynamic Model for Polyethylene Terephthalate Supply Chain in the United Arab Emirates—Status, Projections, and Environmental Impacts

Author

Listed:
  • Sameh Al-Shihabi

    (Engineering and Engineering Management Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Mahmoud Barghash

    (Industrial Engineering Department, The School of Engineering, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan)

Abstract

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water bottles are widely used in the United Arab Emirates (UAE); however, their production and disposal adversely affect the environment. In collaboration with the private sector, the UAE government has taken serious steps to reduce these impacts, including (i) encouraging people to stop using PET water bottles and to separate their waste, (ii) establishing material recovery facilities, (iii) constructing facilities for incineration with energy recovery, and (iv) creating business opportunities to downcycle and recycle PET water bottles. This paper models the PET supply chain (PSC) using system dynamics (SD) to simulate the current PSC in the UAE and to project its possible evolution from 2023 to 2050, taking greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into consideration. For decision-makers, the SD model shows that PET reductions must equal population growth to maintain GHG emissions associated with the PSC for the coming years. In addition, the separation efficiency must exceed 33% of PET consumption to meet the current demand for used PET. Moreover, if PET consumption decreases by more than 1.5%, then businesses relying on used PET will face a supply shortage in the year 2050. As for environmental impacts, it is found that if downcycling and recycling capabilities are fully utilized, GHG emissions will decrease by 35%. Furthermore, if demand for recycled PET reaches 10,000 tons, this reduction will exceed 47%, reaching 177 , 861 M t C O 2 e .

Suggested Citation

  • Sameh Al-Shihabi & Mahmoud Barghash, 2023. "A System Dynamic Model for Polyethylene Terephthalate Supply Chain in the United Arab Emirates—Status, Projections, and Environmental Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-14, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13119-:d:1229915
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13119/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/17/13119/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elisabeth Pinter & Frank Welle & Elisa Mayrhofer & Andreas Pechhacker & Lukas Motloch & Vera Lahme & Andy Grant & Manfred Tacker, 2021. "Circularity Study on PET Bottle-To-Bottle Recycling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-15, July.
    2. Mingers, John & White, Leroy, 2010. "A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 207(3), pages 1147-1161, December.
    3. Richardson, George P. & Otto, Peter, 2008. "Applications of system dynamics in marketing: Editorial," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(11), pages 1099-1101, November.
    4. Rahaf Ajaj & Wisam Abu Jadayil & Hamna Anver & Eman Aqil, 2022. "A Revision for the Different Reuses of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Water Bottles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sameh Al-Shihabi & Ridvan Aydin & Zehra Canan Araci & Fikri Dweiri & Mohammed Obeidat & Mohammad Fayez Al Bataineh, 2024. "Abolishing Single-Use Plastic Water Bottles in Dubai Hotels as a Voluntary Act—Scenarios and Environmental Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-18, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Smith, Chris M. & Shaw, Duncan, 2019. "The characteristics of problem structuring methods: A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(2), pages 403-416.
    2. Trutnevyte, Evelina & Stauffacher, Michael & Scholz, Roland W., 2012. "Linking stakeholder visions with resource allocation scenarios and multi-criteria assessment," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(3), pages 762-772.
    3. Rodney J. Scott & Robert Y. Cavana & Donald Cameron, 2016. "Client Perceptions of Reported Outcomes of Group Model Building in the New Zealand Public Sector," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 77-101, January.
    4. Nam C. Nguyen & Ockie J. H. Bosch, 2014. "The Art of Interconnected Thinking: Starting with the Young," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-21, August.
    5. Miguel Afonso Sellitto & Guilherme Schreiber Pereira & Rafael Marques & Daniel Pacheco Lacerda, 2018. "Systemic Understanding of Coopetitive Behaviour in a Latin American Technological Park," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 31(5), pages 479-494, October.
    6. Ya Li & Zhichang Zhu & Catherine M. Gerard, 2012. "Learning from Conflict Resolution: An Opportunity to Systems Thinking," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 209-220, March.
    7. Lehtonen, Olli & Tykkyläinen, Markku, 2014. "Delphi path simulator for unveiling development opportunities in the forest industries by contrasting forest management practices — The case of North Karelia," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 171-185.
    8. Eichhorn Colombo, Konrad W., 2023. "Financial resilience analysis of floating production, storage and offloading plant operated in Norwegian Arctic region: Case study using inter-/transdisciplinary system dynamics modeling and simulatio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).
    9. Qudrat-Ullah, Hassan, 2015. "Independent power (or pollution) producers? Electricity reforms and IPPs in Pakistan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 240-251.
    10. Scholz, Roland W. & Czichos, Reiner & Parycek, Peter & Lampoltshammer, Thomas J., 2020. "Organizational vulnerability of digital threats: A first validation of an assessment method," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 282(2), pages 627-643.
    11. Mahmoud Dehghan Nayeri & Moein Khazaei & Fatemeh Alinasab-Imani, 2020. "The Critical Heuristics of Iranian Banking Credit System: Analysis of the Antithetical Opinions of the Beneficiaries," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 33(3), pages 363-392, June.
    12. Hermano Bernardo & Adélio Gaspar & Carlos Henggeler Antunes, 2018. "A Combined Value Focused Thinking-Soft Systems Methodology Approach to Structure Decision Support for Energy Performance Assessment of School Buildings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    13. M. Nassereddine & M. A. Ellakkis & A. Azar & M. D. Nayeri, 2021. "Developing a Multi-methodology for Conflict Resolution: Case of Yemen’s Humanitarian Crisis," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 301-320, April.
    14. Wright, George & Cairns, George & O'Brien, Frances A. & Goodwin, Paul, 2019. "Scenario analysis to support decision making in addressing wicked problems: Pitfalls and potential," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 278(1), pages 3-19.
    15. Céline Bérard & L.M., Cloutier & Luc Cassivi, 2017. "The effects of using system dynamics-based decision support models: testing policy-makers’ boundaries in a complex situation," Post-Print hal-02128255, HAL.
    16. Alexandre de A. Gomes Júnior & Vanessa B. Schramm & Fernando Schramm, 2023. "Problem Structuring Methods in Social-Ecological Systems," Systemic Practice and Action Research, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 461-478, June.
    17. Kathrin Bischoff & Christine K. Volkmann & David B. Audretsch, 2018. "Stakeholder collaboration in entrepreneurship education: an analysis of the entrepreneurial ecosystems of European higher educational institutions," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 20-46, February.
    18. Qudrat-Ullah, Hassan, 2014. "Green power in Ontario: A dynamic model-based analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 859-870.
    19. Ülengin, Füsun & Önsel, Şule & Aktas, Emel & Kabak, Özgür & Özaydın, Özay, 2014. "A decision support methodology to enhance the competitiveness of the Turkish automotive industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 234(3), pages 789-801.
    20. Osório, António (António Miguel) & Pinto, Alberto Adrego, 2019. "Information, uncertainty and the manipulability of artifcial intelligence autonomous vehicles systems," Working Papers 2072/376028, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:17:p:13119-:d:1229915. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.