Life Cycle Assessment of Recycling in the Steel Industry for Plastic Containers and Packaging

Abstract

Although recycling systems sometimes participate in the complex processes of existing industries, some Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies omitted those processes partially or entirely from their system boundary. Therefore, influence of recycling on existing industry was clarified and influence of setting system boundary on LCA was discussed in this study. Concerned with recycling for plastic containers and packaging, several cases were supposed to include feedstock recycling in the steel industry and energy recovery by waste incineration. System boundaries were established to include or exclude the processes in the steel works. Inventory analysis was conducted based on those two system boundaries. Consequently there was remarkable difference between result by excluding complex processes in existing industry and result by including the processes. In order to estimate recycling in existing industry by LCA, it is necessary to clarify the processes in the existing industry influenced by introduction of recycled materials, and to establish the system boundary including the processes.