Abstract
With a growing demand of resources and environmental issues like climate change, circular economy has become an inevitable fundamental principle in resource consumption. While conventional plastics have become an essential material group in the 20th century, bio-based and/or biodegradable alternatives are still evolving. Principles of the circular economy need to be implemented for all kinds of material flows and bioplastic is no exception, as biomass is a limited resource as well. To identifiy environmentally favourable pathways for bioplastic waste streams, it is helpful to develop suitable specific indicators. To review the current status quo, a literature review was conducted with focus on (bio-) plastics. While general circular economy approaches are available manifold, only few literature on specific circular economy indicators for (bio-) plastics is available. Especially the aspect of biodegradability is unique for bioplastics and therefore enables further waste treatment options. An already existing framework is therefore extended for these waste treatment options to enable the identification of optimal pathways also for biodegradable plastics.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
BMBF.: Destination bioeconomy—research for a biobased and sustainable economic growth. https://www.bmbf.de/pub/Destination_Bioeconomy.pdf. Assessed 01 Jan 2018
Di Maio, F., Rem, P.C.: A robust indicator for promoting circular economy through recycling. J. Environ. Prot. 6(10), 1095–1104 (2015)
Ellen MacArthur Foundation.: Towards the circular economy: economic and business rationale for an accelerated transition. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/publications/Ellen-MacArthur-Foundation-Towards-the-Circular-Economy-vol.1.pdf (2012). Assessed 01 Jan 2018
Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Granta Design.: An approach to measuring circularity—methodology. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/insight/Circularity-Indicators_Project-Overview_May2015.pdf (2015). Assessed 01 Jan 2018
Endres, H.-J., Siebert-Raths, A.: Engineering Biopolymers—Markets, Manufacturing Properties and Applications. Hanser Verlag, München (2011)
Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N.M.P., Hultink, E.J.: The circular economy—a new sustainability paradigm? J. Cleaner Prod. 143, 757–768 (2017)
Geyer, R., Jambeck, J.R., Law, K.L.: Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Sci. Adv. 3(7), e1700782 (2017)
Huysman, S., De Schaepmeester, J., Ragaert, K., Dewulf, J., De Meester, S.: Performance indicators for a circular economy: a case study on post-industrial plastic waste. Res. Conserv. Recycl. 120, 46–54 (2017)
Hildebrandt, J., Bezama, A., Thrän, D.: Cascade use indicators for selected biopolymers: are we aiming for the right solutions in the design for recycling of bio-based polymers? Waste Manage. Res. 35(4) 367–378 (2017)
IfBB.: Biopolymers—facts and statistics. https://www.ifbb-hannover.de/files/IfBB/downloads/faltblaetter_broschueren/Biopolymers-Facts-Statistics_2017.pdf (2017). Assessed 01 Jan 2018
ISO (International Organization for Standardization): ISO International Standard 14044: Environmental Management—Life Cycle Assessment—Requirements and Guidelines. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva, Switzerland (2006)
Kirchherr, J., Reike, D., Hekkert, M.: Conceptualizing the circular economy: an analysis of 114 definitions. Res. Conserv. Recycl. 127, 221–232 (2017)
Kreiger, M.A., Mulder, M.L., Glover, A.G., Pearce, J.M.: Life cycle analysis of distributed recycling of post-consumer high density polyethylene for 3-D printing filament. J. Cleaner Prod. 70, 90–96 (2014)
Lieder, M., Rashid, A.: Towards circular economy implementation: a comprehensive review in context of manufacturing industry. J. Cleaner Prod. 115, 36–51 (2016)
Linder, M., Sarasini, S., van Loon, P.: A metric for quantifying product-level circularity. J. Ind. Ecol. 21(3), 545–558 (2017)
Ministry of the Environment—Government of Japan.: Establishing a sound material-cycle society: milestone toward a sound material-cycle society through changes in business and lifestyles. https://www.env.go.jp/en/recycle/smcs/f_plan.pdf (2003). Assessed 01 Jan 2018
NatureWorks.: Chemical Recycling. https://www.natureworksllc.com/What-is-Ingeo/Where-it-Goes/Chemical-Recycling (2017). Assessed 01 Jan 2018
PlasticsEurope.: Plastics - the Facts 2016—Any analysis of European plastics production, demand and waste data. http://www.plasticseurope.de/cust/documentrequest.aspx?DocID=67651 (2016). Assessed 01 Jan 2018
Scarlat, N., Dallemand, J.-F., Monforti-Ferrario, F., Nita, V.: The role of biomass and bioenergy in a future bioeconomy: policies and facts. Environ. Dev. 15, 3–34 (2015)
UNEP—United Nations Environment Programme.: Assessing global resource use—a systems approach to resource efficiency and pollution reduction 2017. http://www.resourcepanel.org/file/904/download?token=PZsnNu_x. Assessed 01 Jan 2018
World Economic Forum.: The New Plastics Economy—Rethinking the future of plastics. http://www.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_New_Plastics_Economy.pdf (2016). Assessed 01 Jan 2018
Acknowledgements
The authors thank hereby the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as well as the project executing organisation within the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for the funding and support of the research project “New pathways, strategies, business and communication models for bioplastics as a building block of a sustainable economy” (BiNa) within this research has been conducted.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Spierling, S., Venkatachalam, V., Behnsen, H., Herrmann, C., Endres, HJ. (2019). Bioplastics and Circular Economy—Performance Indicators to Identify Optimal Pathways. In: Schebek, L., Herrmann, C., Cerdas, F. (eds) Progress in Life Cycle Assessment. Sustainable Production, Life Cycle Engineering and Management. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92237-9_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92237-9_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92236-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92237-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)