Recycling is best for plastics and biopolymers
Wednesday, 17th March 2010 8:52
Wrap: Recycling is best for plastics and biopolymers
Recycling is almost always the best way to get rid of waste, even when it is exported abroad, according to a major report to the UK government.
In the report, Wrap, the government's waste and packaging agency, addresses persistent claims that householders are often wasting their time recycling. Wrap calls for better recycling facilities, but also for more incineration of waste – a controversial option opposed by many environmental groups.
It also addresses the perception that biopolymers ought to be composted, suggesting instead that recycling may be a better environmental option.
Wrap analysed 200 previous reports covering seven different material classes: plastics, biopolymers, food, paper and cardboard, garden cuttings, wood and textiles. The experts then assessed the evidence on seven methods of disposal, including recycling, composting, incineration and landfill, measured in terms of four different criteria: energy use, water use, other resource use, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The report’s main conclusions for plastics were:
* Mechanical recycling is the best waste management option overall.
* The environmental benefits of recycling are maximised by collecting good-quality material (to limit the rejected fraction) and by replacement of virgin plastics at a high ratio (1 to 1).
* Incineration with energy recovery performs poorly overall, but pyrolysis appears to be an emerging option in terms of all indicators.
* Landfill is confirmed as having the worst environmental impacts in most cases.
* As the UK moves to a lower carbon energy mix, recycling will become increasingly favoured.
Concerning biopolymers, the report said:
* Limited data show good environmental performance for mechanical and chemical recycling.
* A main advantage often cited for biopolymers is that some of them are degradable or compostable. But composting does not appear to be advantageous for energy demand and depletion of natural resources compared to the other alternatives.
* Anaerobic digestion performs better than composting in terms of climate change potential and energy demand. Anaerobic digestion scores over composting in recovery of the biogas produced.
Defra has a policy of encouraging more incineration, but no formal targets, said a spokesman: "We can't keep on sending waste to landfill. People are already reducing the amount of waste they produce. They are reusing and recycling more, and we are working hard to increase this. Some waste will always be produced, but it can be valuable in generating renewable energy through anaerobic digestion or incineration."