The environmental effect of reusing and recycling a plastic-based packaging system

This Australian study presents the findings of a life-cycle assessment (LCA) that examined whether a re-use and recycle strategy for a plastic-based packaging that substantially reduces the quantity of waste to landfill would also reduce the overall environmental burden. The resources and environmental effects assessed over the life of each of the packagings included fossil fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and photochemical oxidant precursors. The results demonstrate that recycle and reuse strategies for plastic-based products can yield significant environmental benefits. The study also includes some interesting findings regarding the relative contributions of transportation and construction energy, and the potential benefits of adjusting the impact assessment results to take into account the spatial variation in the significance of some environmental effects. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.