Uncovering environmental performance patterns of plastic packaging waste in high recovery rate countries: An example of EU-27

被引：3

作者：

Van Fan, Yee ^{[1
]}

Cucek, Lidija ^{[2
]}

Si, Chunyan ^{[1
]}

Jiang, Peng ^{[3
]}

Vujanovic, Annamaria ^{[2
]}

Krajnc, Damjan ^{[2
]}

Lee, Chew Tin ^{[4
]}

机构：

[1] Brno Univ Technol, Fac Mech Engn, NETME Ctr, Sustainable Proc Integrat Lab, Techn 2896-2, Brno 61669, Czech Republic

[2] Univ Maribor, Fac Chem & Chem Engn, Smetanova 17, Maribor, Slovenia

[3] Sichuan Univ, Business Sch, Dept Ind & Engn Management, Chengdu 610064, Peoples R China

[4] Univ Teknol Malaysia, Fac Chem & Energy Engn, Johor Baharu 81310, Johor, Malaysia

来源：

ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH | 2024年 / 241卷

基金：

中国国家自然科学基金;

关键词：

Plastic packaging waste; Waste to resources; Principal component analysis; Environmental impacts; Plastic reduction; Exploratory data analysis; LIFE-CYCLE ASSESSMENT; GENERATION; MANAGEMENT;

D O I：

10.1016/j.envres.2023.117581

中图分类号：

X [环境科学、安全科学];

学科分类号：

08 ; 0830 ;

摘要：

Plastic consumption and its end-of-life management pose a significant environmental footprint and are energy intensive. Waste-to-resources and prevention strategies have been promoted widely in Europe as countermeasures; however, their effectiveness remains uncertain. This study aims to uncover the environmental footprint patterns of the plastics value chain in the European Union Member States (EU-27) through exploratory data analysis with dimension reduction and grouping. Nine variables are assessed, ranging from socioeconomic and demographic to environmental impacts. Three clusters are formed according to the similarity of a range of characteristics (nine), with environmental impacts being identified as the primary influencing variable in determining the clusters. Most countries belong to Cluster 0, consisting of 17 countries in 2014 and 18 countries in 2019. They represent clusters with a relatively low global warming potential (GWP), with an average value of 2.64 t CO2eq/cap in 2014 and 4.01 t CO2eq/cap in 2019. Among all the assessed countries, Denmark showed a significant change when assessed within the traits of EU-27, categorised from Cluster 1 (high GWP) in 2014 to Cluster 0 (low GWP) in 2019. The analysis of plastic packaging waste statistics in 2019 (data released in 2022) shows that, despite an increase in the recovery rate within the EU-27, the GWP has not reduced, suggesting a rebound effect. The GWP tends to increase in correlation with the higher plastic waste amount. In contrast, other environmental impacts, like eutrophication, abiotic and acidification potential, are identified to be mitigated effectively via recovery, suppressing the adverse effects of an increase in plastic waste generation. The five-year interval data analysis identified distinct clusters within a set of patterns, categorising them based on their similarities. The categorisation and managerial insights serve as a foundation for devising a focused mitigation strategy.

引用

页数：15