Environmental impacts by disposal of plastic from municipal solid waste

A steadily increasing demand for recycling of polymers has resulted in a demand for methods making it possible to compare different disposal processes' influence on the environment and on the resources. ‘Ecoprofiles’ can be used for ranking of different disposal processes in an environmentally and resource compatible way. An ecoprofile is an assessment of the environmental and resource impacts for a given disposal process, and those processes influenced by the disposal process. Within the constraints and boundaries imposed by the model, assumptions made, and data utilized, this article describes ecoprofiles for six different ways of disposing the plastic fraction in municipal solid waste. The following disposal processes are studied: (1 and 2) two different material recycling processes that include separation of the plastic waste; (3) material recycling without separation of the plastic waste; (4) pyrolysis; (5) incineration with heat recovery; and (6) landfill.