Plastic Waste in Germany

8/10/2019 Plastic Waste in Germany

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Sustainable Management and Recovery Potential of plasticwaste from the commercial and private household sectors

Ingo Sartorius/Joachim Wuttke

OECD Global Forum, Mechelen, 25 October 2010


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Content

Introduction

Plastics are sustainable materials

Life cycle consideration

Principles of plastics waste management

o 3 Options: mechanical, feedstock and energy recovery

o Cost & environmental aspects

o Conclusion: Divert from landfill

Plastics waste management in Germany

The European challenge

Conclusion


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Automotive

Building/

Construction

Packaging

Electrical/

Electronics

Agriculture

Medicine

Plastics are sustainable materials


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Product use

90%

Disposal

0,2%

Production,

Transport

9,8%

Plastics material management inproducts: The use phase dominates

Source: Report ENV Ministry Lower Saxony

*) electric stove, dishwasher, washing machine, dryer

cumulated energy demand

of large household appliances*


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Plastics Value Chain in Europe 2009data for EU-27 plus CH/NO

Import

Export

Household(post-

consumer)

Con-sumer

demand

Waste28 Mt

24 Mt

Industry,Commerce

(post-industrial)

4 Mt

Import

Export

Pro-duction

55 Mt

Con-sumption

45 Mt

Export

Import

Source: Consultic


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Options for Recovery of Plastics Waste

RECOVERY

MATERIALRECOVERY ENERGYRECOVERY

ALTERNATIVE

FUEL

(cement, power)

MECHANICAL

RECYCLING

(Plastic products)

FEEDSTOCK

RECYCLING

(Chemical raw materials)

DIRECT

INCINERATION

(MSWI)

MSWI = Municipal Solid Waste Incineration

= Recycling


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When to choose which option?

Mechanical recyclingby remelting and compounding

Feedstock recycling

by decomposition of polymeric materials

e.g. gasification, blast furnace, hydrogenisa-tion, pyrolysis, solvolysis, de-polymerisation

Energy recovery

by incineration with energy recoverye.g. in MSWI, cement kiln,

substitution of oil/coke in power generation

Criteria:pure grade,clean

mixed or

type alike,soiled

mixed,soiled

Waste quali ty is decis ive


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Mechanical recycling is preferred, if

homogeneous,clean wastestreams

can replace virgin

on close to 1:1 basis

markets exist orcan be developedwhen specifications

are met

PET bottles

PE recyclateHIPS recycling pellet PP recyclate

PVC recyclate

mixed plastics recyclate

PET flakes from sor-

ted packaging waste

Prerequisite for recyclates:

Technical qualities have to be fulfilled to be competitive on the market; therefore

products containing recyclates usually go in other applications than the original one


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Characteristics for both recovery options:

Suitable for mixed, laminated or soiled plastic wastes

Secured emission control and plant safety due to strict permit law

Often in an existing large industrial installation under market conditions

Feedstock recycling and energy recovery

Feedstock recycling

Principle:

conversion of organic waste into

hydrocarbons and feed them into

plants of chemical industry

Technology examples:

Depolymerisation

Gasification

Pyrolysis

Metal smelters

Blast furnace

Energy recovery

Principle:

utilising energy resources from organic

waste by direct incineration via co-com-

bustion or substitution of fuel (e.g. SRF)

Technology examples:

Modern incinerators (>65% eff.)

Cement kiln

Power plants

Pulp & paper industry

MSWI plant Sp ittelau/Vienna, AT

Blast fu rnace of v oestalpin e/Lin z, AT


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Key factors to an optimisedsustainable waste management

Waste quality

Environmental effects

Costs

Amounts for scale-up

Competitive technologies available in the market

Demand for products of waste recovery operations

Regional infrastructure

Legal frame conditions


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Life Cycle Assessment forRecovery Routes of Plastics Packaging

-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

0

Bottles

Film

s

Pipe

s

Palis

ades

Base

ofh

oardings

Blastfurna

ce

Thermolysis

Gasifi

catio

n

Co-Com

bustio

n

Drum

bed

incine

ratio

n

Cemen

tkiln

EnergyinMJ/kgrecov

eredplastic

-40,1

-31,5

-54,8

-7,1-5,2

-29,3 -28,6-26,4

-28,1-34

-27,9

-29,8

Mechanical Feedstock Energy Recovery

Source:

kobilanz der Verwertungswege 1995Hyde/Kremer, LCA-Documents 1999

Input

bottles, films

Input

mixed plastics

Landfill

1. Recovery is better than disposal2. No single option can be assigned as best

-13,4

-15,9

Energy

Savingscomp

aredtoLandfill


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Mechanicalrecycling

of post-consumer waste

(Auto, EE, packaging)

Energyrecovery

wasteincineration

Feedstockrecovery

synthesisproduction

Energyrecovery

power station,cement kiln

Landfill

Euro / t

industrial film

mixed, complexwaste

Waste Management OptionsEconomics

Source: tecpol, UBA


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Landfill is the least preferred option

Large quantities of Greenhouse Gas emissions

(food, bio waste)

Waste of material and energy

resources (metals, plastics )

Consequently:Extend the recovery of material and energy is key

(recycling, composting, energy recovery)
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afbeelding:WasteFinalDeposited.jpg


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Plastics value chain in Germany 2009

Import

Export

Household(post-consumer)

Consumer

demandWaste4,9 Mt

4,0 Mt

Industry,Commerce(post-industrial)

0,9 Mt

Import

Export

Pro-duction

17,0 Mt

Con-sumption

10,7 Mt

Export

Import

>99%Recovery

>97%Recovery

Source: Consultic 2010


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Different qualities of waste

Plastics wastefrom commercial

end-user collection

Plastics wastefrom private

end-user collection


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Plastics waste managementin Germany today

Plastics waste management in Germany Amount of recovered plastics

waste raised from 1,4 mio t (94)to 4.8 mio t (2009)

Recovery market undercompetitive environment

Recovery technologies androutes for plastics waste havebeen established

Recovery of plastic rich wastestreams from 50% (1994)to 97% (2009)

9 dual systems for packaging (all

types) collection from households

Bi-annual statistics by independent

external institute with reputation to e.g. UBA:

CONSULTIC GmbH, Alzenau/Germany

0 kt

1.000 kt

2.000 kt

3.000 kt

4.000 kt

5.000 kt

total

recovery

landfill

divertfrom

landfill


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Post-consumer plastics waste managmtin Europe (EU-27 plus CH/NO) 2009

Better thanEU average:

Central Europe

+ FR, NO, SE

Below average:

outer regions

> 80% recovery

> 50% recovery

> 20% recovery

< 20% recovery


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The comprehensive view:plastics are sustainable materials

PastTarget: Safeguard functionality

High recyclability(Metals dominate)

Low recyclability

(complex products lead to highexpenditure by dismantling) FutureTarget: Optimal mix from- Functionality- Price- Safety, comfort

- Saving of fuel& Emissions

Goal: Sustainability of productsalong its life cycle


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Knowledge Transfer Projectof PlasticsEurope

Contribute to sustainable waste management of end-of-life products

containing plasticsby utilising its material and energy resources

Focus on countries with window-of-opportunityby identification via country assessment

Todays focus is France, Poland, Spain and UK,while further countries emerge

Use theknow-howabout plastics waste management andmake it effective locally

- Establish relationships with stakeholders in value chain

- Support to dialogue and networking

- Contribute to information and education- Use communication channels (conferences, media, publication etc)

- Provide technical support

For discussion:interestand further support and development by OECD?


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Ingo Sartorius

PlasticsEurope

Tel. +49 69 2556 [email protected]

Joachim Wuttke

Umweltbundesamt

Tel. +49 340 2103 [email protected]