A circular multilayer plastic approach for value retention of end-of life multilayers films D6.2 Life Cycle Assessment - Screening

The recycling of multilayer packaging has been a challenge as conventional
mechanical recycling will result in polymer mix with undesired properties. CIMPA
intends to tackle this issue by two different approaches each consists of multiple steps to assure a high quality film can be obtained after recycling. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is used to analyse the environmental impact of these two approaches in comparison to the state-of-the-art (a combination of landfill and incineration with energy recovery) within the European geography. The result of LCA screening showed the potential improvement by using CIMPA technology for mechanical recycling (inclusion of METEOR technology-scenario 2) by a 24% decrease in global warming potential (GWP), while using the dissolution technology (scenario 1) did not improve the GWP. This originates from lower material efficiency of the dissolution technology which needs to be improved. On the other hand, the electricity consumption is another factor which leads to higher environmental burdens using six impact assessment categories (particulate matter formation, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity, human carcinogenic toxicity and mineral resource scarcity). Using future (2050) model for electricity grid mix and recycling rate, the performance is improved whereby 25 and 36% decrease in GWP was achieved in scenario 1 and 2, respectively. An increase in the material efficiency is recommended to achieve better results. Moreover, the quality of the products need to be taken into account for the future LCA study using actual properties to allocate realistic credit to the produced films. This plays an important role as currently using scenario 1 yields higher quality outputs for PET/LDPE films in comparison to scenario 2.