Life Cycle Analysis & Third Party Reports on Chemical Recycling

	Life-cycle analysis of recycling of post-use plastic to plastic via pyrolysis Authors: Ulises R. Gracida-Alvarez, Pahola Thathiana Benavides, Uisung Lee, Michael Wang An assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions including energy, water consumption and solid waste impacts of converting post-use plastic to new plastics such as HDPE and LDPE. Data is analysed from 8 plants, looking at plant size and maturity. It found that pyrolysis plastics can benefit from economics of scale and maturity of plant which reduces GHG emissions, fossil energy, water consumption and solid waste. Two substitution rates (SR) for pyrolysis oil were looked at (5% and 20%) and the potential to avoid emissions from end-of-life management was explored. It looked at the process from a steam crackers perspective (with co-feeding of pyrolysis oil with conventional feedstock) and a recyclers perspective )which analysed co-feeding but allocated the impact of feedstock substitution entirely to the recycled feedstock). From a recyclers perspective the results show for the 5% SR there was a 23% reduction in GHG for HDPE and 18% for LDPE. The 20% SR found a 4% reduction for HDPE and 3% for LDPE (this was lower due to an extra step of hydrotreating the pyrolysis oil). Reductions were lower from the stream crackers perspective. It was found that reductions could be 50% - 131% in the US and EU if GHG emissions from incineration were considered as emission reduction credits. Published: September 2023 Download Full Rerport
	Corporate Forum Chemical Recycling (CFCR) – political fields of action for the raw material turnaround and transformation into a circular economy by means of chemical recycling in Germany Authors: Think Tank for Industrial Resource Strategies This report sets out the fields of actions needed by the German government to initiate a discussion with them. This includes: Waste hierarchical level End-of-waste status Use of specific and flexible mass balance methods Produce-specific recyclate rates Establishment of single independent body and creation of legal requirement to collect data for all waste and recycling methods, as well as for certificates Published: July 2023 Download Full Report
	Chemical recycling: reduced GHG emissions and fossil resource depletion Authors: Neste Chemical recycling provides a reduction in GHG emissions of at least 50% (2023) and 60% (2030). The study also demonstrates that fossil resource depletion, i.e. fossil resource use, is reduced by at least 75% and 140% respectively when waste plastic is chemically recycled instead of incinerated. Published: April 2023 Read Highlights Online
	How much can chemical recycling contribute to plastic waste recycling in Europe? An assessment using material flow analysis modeling Authors: Irdanto Saputra Lase, Martijn Roosena, Davide Tonini, Dario Caro, Paola F. Albizzati, Jorge Cristobal, Steven De Meester, Marvin Kusenberg, Kim Ragaert, Kevin M. Van Geem, Jo Dewulf Results of this study show that the implementation of chemical and solvent-based recycling technologies bring positive impacts towards the end-of-life-recycling rate as plastic-to-plastic and plastic-to-chemicals recycling (from chemical recycling) will increase the rate up to 80% (with mechanical recycling alone the rate would be 49% in 2030) Chemical recycling becomes complementary (and not competitive) to improved mechanical recycling. In this scenario, plastic-to-plastic rate For policy makers, the approach (i.e., mass balance model) and findings of this paper can also be used to support proposals of realistically achievable recycled content targets and support which recycling technologies can play which role(s) in achieving the targets. Published: 26 February 2023 (Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, ScienceDirect.com) Download

	Hydrothermal Treatment of Waste Plastics: An Environmental Impact Study Authors: Warwick Manufacturing Group (Matthew C. Ozoemena, Stuart R. Coles) The results shows HTT with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 478 kg CO2 eq. per tonne can generate up to 80% reduction in climate change impacts when compared with comparable end-of-life treatment technologies whilst conserving material with the system. The GWP could be reduced by up to 57% by changing how electricity is generated for on-site consumption. Published: 25th Feb 2023 (Journal of Polymers and the Environment) Download

	Environmental and Economic Assessment of Plastic Waste Recycling Author: Joint Research Centre (JRC) - the European Commission's science and knowledge service “This study provides a comparative environmental and economic assessment of plastic waste recycling and energy recovery (incineration) technologies, using actual plant data complemented with external information. The recycling technologies include mechanical, physical and chemical recycling. The study concludes that the choice of the preferred management option for plastic waste should be based on three main criteria: i) the maximisation of material recovery while minimising processing impacts (principally related to energy consumption), in line with the waste hierarchy; ii) the specificity of the plastic waste stream and the treatment thereby required (technical feasibility); and iii) the economic feasibility.” “Considering climate change effects, the management of plastic waste via chemical and physical recycling appears to be preferred to energy recovery” (p81) Published: 17th February 2023 Download

	The role of non-mechanical recycling Author: WRAP Proposals for ‘what needs to happen’ Mass balance accountancy included as an allowable allocation method within the Plastics Packaging Tax. Non-mechanical recycling given the same legal status as recycling and not be bound by the same rules as incineration. Appropriate feedstock to be made available, through consistent kerbside collections. Further, independent work to effectively demonstrate that non-mechanical processes are the environmentally preferred option over the alternatives (such as incineration/Energy from Waste) and the production of virgin plastic. The use of outputs within low-hydrogen fuel alternatives to be strongly discouraged to keep material within the supply chains Published: August 2022 More Information Redesigning the plastics system - the role of non-mechanical recycling (Report and Blog)

	Life Cycle Assessment of Chemical Recycling for Food Grade Film Author: Sphera on behalf of The Consumer Good Forum Compared to fossil based polymers being incinerated, pyrolysis chemical recycling (Py-CR) offers a 43% lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emission contribution. It is 20% more favourable than landfilling fossil based plastics. Published: 4th July 2022 (Exec Summary March 2022) Download Full Report \| Exec Summary
	Life Cycle Assessment of Certified Circular Polymers Authors: Critical Review Panel: Including representatives of Sphera and thinkstep Ltd The comparison of carbon footprint (global warming potential) indicates that direct impacts of advanced recycling route has about 6-8% higher carbon footprint than fossil-based naphtha route for all polyolefins. (NOTE: The two routes can be considered to have comparable carbon footprint as differences are within the error margins of the assessment) Future versions of this technology has potential for improved energetics which might make these two routes very comparable SABIC certified circular polymers could save approximately 2kg of CO2 missions for every kg of advanced recycled polyolefins diverted to polymer production vs. energy recovery When using renewable sources of heat and power substitute energy derived from incineration of mixed plastic waste, then, the advanced recycling route could have approximately 5kg CO2 emissions less for every kg of certified circular polymers based on advanced recycling in comparison to plastic diversion to energy recovery. Published: March 2021 View
	Life cycle environmental impacts of chemical recycling via pyrolysis of mixed plastic waste in comparison with mechanical recycling and energy recovery Authors: Harish Jeswani, Christian Krüger, Manfred Russ, Maike Horlacher, Florian Antony, Simon Hann , Adisa Azapagic Pyrolysis of mixed plastic waste (MPW) emits 50% less CO2 eq. than energy recovery. Chemically recycled plastic generates 2.3 t CO2 eq./t less than the virgin plastic. The global warming potentials of pyrolysis and mechanical recycling are comparable. Pyrolysis has significantly higher other impacts than the alternatives considered. Results are sensitive to assumptions on location, energy mix and recyclate quality. Published: Science of The Total Environment, Volume 769, 15 May 2021, 144483 More Information

	Chemical Recycling: Greenhouse gas emission reduction potential of an emerging waste management route Author: Quantis, commisioned by CEFIC A review of 4 published studies on chemical recycling. Chemical recycling is a more sustainable end-of-life management option for mixed plastic waste compared to incineration, landfilling, or — the worst-case scenario — environmental leakage to soil and water bodies. Development and deployment of new circular technologies can offer environmental benefits compared to existing ones, such as reduced GHG emissions, reduced primary resource usage, or reduced waste. Published: October 2020 Download

	Life Cycle Assessment Of Plastic Energy Technology For The Chemical Recycling Of Mixed Plastic Waste from fossil origins Author: Quantis, prepared for Plastic Energy Date: September, 2020 This paper looked at three scenarios: Managing mixed plastic waste through the chemical recycling process of Plastic Energy, Managing mixed plastic waste through incineration with energy recovery or managing mixed plastic waste in landfill. This was specifically looking at LDPE. Highlights: Chemical recycling of plastic waste will become in time a more and more favourable solution from a waste management perspective. Mechanical recycling shows the best performance for both indicators, compared to the alternative scenarios assessed. Compared to virgin (fossil) LDPE, chemically recycled LDPE has lower climate change and resources depletion scores. Plastic Energy’s process produces 65% less GHG emissions than incineration with energy recovery, and 55% less GHG emissions compared to producing 1kg of LDPE Download (Exec Summary)

	Life cycle assessment (LCA) for ChemCycling Author: Sphera Solutions GmbH, commissioned by: BASF Pyrolysis of mixed plastic waste emits 50 percent less CO2 than incineration of mixed plasticwaste. CO2 emissions are saved when products are manufactured based on pyrolysis oil (as secondary raw material under a mass balance approach) instead of naphtha (primary fossil raw material). The lower emissions result from voiding the incineration of mixed plastic waste. Manufacturing of plastics via either chemical recycling (pyrolysis) or mechanical recycling of mixed plastic waste results in similar CO2 emissions. It was taken into account that the quality of chemically recycled products is similar to that of virgin material and that usually less input material is sorted out than with mechanical recycling. Published: July 31, 2020 More Information

	Exploratory study on chemical recycling. Author: CE Delft Successful development of chemical recycling will depend very much on whether waste streams can also be imported from abroad. If this can be done on a reasonably large scale, an annual CO2 reduction of 1.6 Mt is projected for 2030. The analysis shows that chemical recycling can make a substantial contribution to the goals of the Dutch government to reduce climate change impacts. If plastic waste streams can be imported from neighbouring countries, the worldwide climate change reduction may exceed 1 Mt CO2 eq. by avoiding the current treatments. Published: September 2018 (Updated 2019) More Information