IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i14p6226-d1439546.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of the Quantities of Non-Targeted Materials (Impurities) in Recycled Plastic Packaging Waste to Comply with EU Regulations and Sustainable Waste Management

Author

Listed:
  • Beata Waszczyłko-Miłkowska

    (Institute of Environmental Protection—National Research Institute, 02-170 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Katarzyna Bernat

    (Department of Environmental Biotechnology, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, 10-719 Olsztyn, Poland)

  • Krystian Szczepański

    (Institute of Environmental Protection—National Research Institute, 02-170 Warsaw, Poland)

Abstract

Plastic packaging waste (PPW) can be considered as solid waste with harmful effects on the environment or as a material with recycling potential in terms of sustainable development in a circular economy. Knowing the amount of PPW generated is very important as it is related to the availability of this material for recycling and determines the actual recycling rate (denominator of a fraction). PPW is very heterogeneous and contains a certain number of impurities (e.g., product residues, direct printing, glue, labels, plastic sleeves, cap, etc.). According to EU law, an annual report (for the data in 2021) on the masses of both the PPW actually recycled (PPW R ) (“targeted materials”) and impurities (“non-targeted materials”) must be prepared and submitted to the European Commission. The PPW R is used for the calculation of the recycling rate (the numerator in a fraction). The impurities should be considered for the calculation of own resources (national contributions to the general EU budget based on the uniform call rate of 0.80/kg of non-recycled PPW). To date, the Council of the EU has not proposed a method for calculating these amounts, so they have only been estimated. The present study (the first of its kind in Poland) aimed to estimate the number of impurities in PPW and the actual amount of PPW R at the calculation point using a method accepted by the EU. In the installations, PPW (plastic packaging (15 01 02), multi-material packaging (15 01 05) and mixed packaging waste (15 01 06)) is recycled together with other plastic waste (plastic (16 01 19), plastic (17 02 03), plastic and rubber (19 12 04), and plastics (20 01 39)). It was assumed that the proportions of the mass of individual types of PPW in the total mass of plastic waste processed in the installation were proportional to the mass of impurities in these individual types of PPW. It was found that the average percentage of impurities in PPW was 4.40–6.90%, which seems to be relatively low. However, this means that, when calculating the PPW R , the mass of impurities should be subtracted from the mass of PPW entering the recycling process. As a result, the mass of PPW R at the calculation point in 2021 in Poland was almost 30,000 tonnes lower than the original mass entering the installation. Thus, applying the uniform call rate to the weight of impurities in the PPW increases Poland’s own resources by approx. 24 million euros.

Suggested Citation

  • Beata Waszczyłko-Miłkowska & Katarzyna Bernat & Krystian Szczepański, 2024. "Assessment of the Quantities of Non-Targeted Materials (Impurities) in Recycled Plastic Packaging Waste to Comply with EU Regulations and Sustainable Waste Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-9, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6226-:d:1439546
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6226/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6226/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marie Kampmann Eriksen & Anders Damgaard & Alessio Boldrin & Thomas Fruergaard Astrup, 2019. "Quality Assessment and Circularity Potential of Recovery Systems for Household Plastic Waste," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 156-168, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Xavier Tanguay & Gatien Geraud Essoua Essoua & Ben Amor, 2021. "Attributional and consequential life cycle assessments in a circular economy with integration of a quality indicator: A case study of cascading wood products," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(6), pages 1462-1473, December.
    2. Farrukh, Amna & Mathrani, Sanjay & Sajjad, Aymen, 2023. "Green-lean-six sigma practices and supporting factors for transitioning towards circular economy: A natural resource and intellectual capital-based view," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Gu, Fu & Wang, Jiqiang & Guo, Jianfeng & Fan, Ying, 2020. "Dynamic linkages between international oil price, plastic stock index and recycle plastic markets in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 167-179.
    4. Francesco Colelli & Edoardo Croci, 2021. "Assessment of environmental and economic benefits of packaging waste system in Italy," ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2021(1), pages 37-58.
    5. Daniel Maga & Markus Hiebel & Venkat Aryan, 2019. "A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Meat Trays Made of Various Packaging Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Confente, Ilenia & Scarpi, Daniele & Russo, Ivan, 2020. "Marketing a new generation of bio-plastics products for a circular economy: The role of green self-identity, self-congruity, and perceived value," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 431-439.
    7. Wankmüller, Christian & Pulsfort, Johannes & Kunovjanek, Maximilian & Polt, Romana & Craß, Stefan & Reiner, Gerald, 2023. "Blockchain-based tokenization and its impact on plastic bottle supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    8. Cris Garcia-Saravia Ortiz-de-Montellano & Yvonne Meer, 2022. "A Theoretical Framework for Circular Processes and Circular Impacts Through a Comprehensive Review of Indicators," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 23(2), pages 291-314, June.
    9. Felix Carl Schultz & Robert Jaroslav Reinhardt, 2022. "Facilitating systemic eco‐innovation to pave the way for a circular economy: A qualitative‐empirical study on barriers and drivers in the European polyurethane industry," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(5), pages 1646-1675, October.
    10. Katarzyna Bernat, 2023. "Post-Consumer Plastic Waste Management: From Collection and Sortation to Mechanical Recycling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-14, April.

    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:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6226-:d:1439546. 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.