LCA-based indicators for recycling: a case study on plastic waste treatment in Flanders

The last decades, waste management strategies are shifting from waste disposal to recycling, considering waste as resources. To quantitatively monitor the progress in this transition, a wide range of indicators has been developed. One of these indicators developed by the European Commission is the recyclability benefit rate (RBR), defined as the ratio of the environmental benefits that can be achieved from recycling over the environmental losses related to virgin production and disposal. These environmental benefits and losses are expressed in terms of environmental impacts obtained through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). To assess the usefulness of this indicator, we applied it on two cases of plastic waste treatment in Flanders, Belgium: closed-loop recycling (case A) and open-loop recycling (case B). The environmental impact of resource consumption is quantified as the Cumulative Exergy Extraction of the Natural Environment (CEENE). Case A considers plastic waste from electronic appliances. The recycled plastic is of good quality and can be used in products similar to the original product. The average RBR of case A is 58%. Case B considers plastic household waste. The recycled plastic is of lower quality, making it only useable for other products, e.g. street benches, in which it substitutes other materials, e.g. wood. Here, the indicator had to be further adapted for open-loop recycling. The outcome is an average RBR of 13%. This value is rather low because more mass of the recycled plastic is needed to meet the same quality requirements as the substituted material. By further developing the indicator for open-loop recycling, it was possible to quantify the environmental sustainability of plastic recycling in Flanders. These quantitative results may be useful for policy makers, e.g. in legislation on subsidies and levies