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From page 219... ... 219 Appendix E Overview of Recycled Plastics Supply and Demand: Identifying the Critical Market Bottlenecks for Closing the Loop Basuhi Ravi, Karan Bhuwalka, Elizabeth Moore, and Randolph Kirchain Massachusetts Institute of Technology STATE OF PLASTICS WASTE GENERATION In 2019, global plastic production totaled 368 million metric tons (MMT) , of which 60 MMT (McKinsey 2019) Read the entire page →
From page 220... ... 220 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE sector (many automobile parts use PP) , building and construction (PVC is used for cables, window profiles, roofing, flooring, high-density polyethylene [HDPE] Read the entire page →
From page 221... ... APPENDIX E 221 Commercial waste generation in the United States is estimated for different business groups and plastic resin types by Meyer et al. Read the entire page →
From page 222... ... 222 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE The rest of the report is organized as follows: The second section discusses the current system for collection, sorting, and recycling of recyclable waste plastics and discusses various strategies to improve quantity and quality of the supply of recycled plastics. The third section delves into the consumption of recycled plastics in the United States and characterizes applications and actors based on their motivation, willingness, and constraints to substitute for recycled plastics. Read the entire page →
From page 223... ... APPENDIX E 223 million tonnes, while the fraction collected for recycling has gone up from 5.3 to 8.5 percent (2,800 kt in 2018) Read the entire page →
From page 224... ... 224 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Recycling Report (The Recycling Partnership 2020) found that more than 94 percent of households in the United States have access to some form of collection for recycling (curbside, drop-off, or both) Read the entire page →
From page 225... ... APPENDIX E 225 natural HDPE bottles (200 kt) Read the entire page →
From page 226... ... 226 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE range from 1.5 to 4 cents/bottle, which translates to a cost between approximately US$400/ton and US$1,200/ton. While deposit return systems have higher collection costs than curbside programs (typically less than US$300/ ton) Read the entire page →
From page 227... ... APPENDIX E 227 their recyclable inputs by adding extra sorting equipment, adding extra conveyor lines, and upgrading to more automated workflows to improve sorting efficiencies and lower costs (such as labor or overhead) Read the entire page →
From page 228... ... 228 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE with reasons for closure. The often-cited reason is cost; typically, MRFs make 3- to 5-year contracts with municipalities, but the fluctuating market landscape has made the case for more flexible contracts and renegotiations to keep MRFs, which perform a vital service for the municipalities, afloat. Read the entire page →
From page 229... ... APPENDIX E 229 10 to 20 percent and can be as high at 46 percent in some cases. Inbound contamination increases the amount of residual waste that a MRF must pay to sort and dispose and affects cost along with recycling efficiency. Read the entire page →
From page 230... ... 230 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE What Are Some Viable Strategies for Improving Collection Quantities? Deposit Return Systems While most DRSs originated to manage glass bottles and metal cans, usually from alcoholic beverages, they have generalized the system to include PET bottles used for soft drinks as their volume in the waste stream has grown exponentially in the past 40 years. Read the entire page →
From page 231... ... APPENDIX E 231 only carbonated drinks are included (some allow bottled water as well) Read the entire page →
From page 232... ... 232 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE program disposed of 1,239 pounds of trash per household compared to an average of 1,765 pounds per household in towns without the program. USEPA reported that communities with PAYT programs reduce the amount of waste disposed of by 14 to 27 percent on average. Read the entire page →
From page 233... ... APPENDIX E 233 Optical sorting works remarkably well for some large-volume plastic products such as PET bottles (e.g., carbonated soft drinks, water bottles) , as the system is optimized (by the equipment manufacturer) Read the entire page →
From page 234... ... 234 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE development of low-temperature processes aided by catalysis is a promising pathway for PE and PP wastes. Regulation that conflates plastics-to-fuels and plastics-to-plastics pathways may disincentivize materials circularity. Read the entire page →
From page 235... ... APPENDIX E 235 The economic viability of these processes depends critically on feedstock cost, and many assume the current costs of obtaining feedstock when it is low quality and/or has undeveloped recycling systems but have not considered the cost of developing out and scaling up reverse logistics and collection end points for less-desired feedstock they claim to recover and recycle; as such this may cause increased competition for existing limited supply of recycled plastics. CONSUMPTION OF RECYCLED PLASTICS Secondary End Uses for Recycled Plastic Recycled plastics are used in a host of applications to supplement or displace virgin plastics: much of this demand has historically been driven by the low price of recycled plastics. Read the entire page →
From page 236... ... 236 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE quality, and recycling several times over. A more careful approach (Geyer et al. Read the entire page →
From page 237... ... APPENDIX E 237 2017 to 2018, PET exports dropped from 16.4 to 7.7 percent of the total PET bottles collected (more than half of the 7.7 percent was going to Canada) Read the entire page →
From page 238... ... 238 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE (FDA) issues No Objection Letters (FDA 2022) Read the entire page →
From page 239... ... APPENDIX E 239 United States. In other words, recycled PET (R-PET) Read the entire page →
From page 241... ... APPENDIX E 241 percent recycled content in PET bottles by 2022 (50 percent by 2030) with a penalty of 20 cents/pound. Read the entire page →
From page 242... ... 242 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE times higher than that for pigmented HDPE bales (see Figure E-11) Read the entire page →
From page 243... ... APPENDIX E 243 are currently cost ineffective: a study in Ontario estimated the gross cost of collection and sorting via three municipal curbside and drop-off programs to be as high as 2511 CAD/tonne, with the sorted bale fetching only 29 CAD/tonne (Stewardship Ontario 2017) Read the entire page →
From page 244... ... 244 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE procurement activities that target noncircular end uses can aid development of film recycling infrastructure in the United States. The Market for Mixed Plastics The market for mixed plastics has been shrinking since export of mixed plastics waste to China was restricted but was recently partially revived by chemical recycling (Staub 2020) Read the entire page →
From page 245... ... APPENDIX E 245 Research into the sources of recycled plastic supply and effects of the recycling process must be studied further to understand the potential impact on material properties and the resulting end products. Long-term environmental impacts of recycled plastics in infrastructure should also be considered in order to understand possible effects of microplastic emissions. Read the entire page →
From page 246... ... 246 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE markets for these materials through legislative requirements for noncircular uses or public procurement can incentivize processing of these materials. EPR can provide legislative instruments to link supply-side actions and demand-side safeguards through eco-modulation. Read the entire page →
From page 247... ... APPENDIX E 247 literature review and analysis, we find a general need for models that address the interplay of policy and technology levers to identify cost-efficient pathways to improving recycling outcomes in the United States; to develop such models more granular and contextual data are needed. Below, we highlight some of the data gaps we think are critical to developing a more complete understanding of recycled plastics markets. Read the entire page →
From page 248... ... 248 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE by targeting point sources with promising economies of scale and existing logistics networks. End-Use Demand To comment on the economic viability of the system, it is crucial to know how much the different end-use markets might be willing to pay for recycled materials in different scenarios. Read the entire page →
From page 249... ... APPENDIX E 249 Closed Loop Partners. Read the entire page →
From page 250... ... 250 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Leardini, P Read the entire page →
From page 252... ... 252 RECYCLED PLASTICS IN INFRASTRUCTURE Townsend, T G., Ingwersen, W Read the entire page →

From page 219...

... 219 Appendix E Overview of Recycled Plastics Supply and Demand: Identifying the Critical Market Bottlenecks for Closing the Loop Basuhi Ravi, Karan Bhuwalka, Elizabeth Moore, and Randolph Kirchain Massachusetts Institute of Technology STATE OF PLASTICS WASTE GENERATION In 2019, global plastic production totaled 368 million metric tons (MMT) , of which 60 MMT (McKinsey 2019)