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Summary of LCA Review including carbon issues

Summary of LCA Review including carbon issues. Julian Parfitt. ‘Making the most of LCA thinking’ 23 November 2006, Savoy Place, London. WRAP LCA Symposium ‘Making the most of LCA thinking’ 23 November 2006, Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL. WRAP LCA Symposium ‘Making the most of LCA thinking’

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Summary of LCA Review including carbon issues

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  1. Summary of LCA Reviewincluding carbon issues Julian Parfitt ‘Making the most of LCA thinking’ 23 November 2006, Savoy Place, London WRAP LCA Symposium ‘Making the most of LCA thinking’ 23 November 2006, Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL WRAP LCA Symposium ‘Making the most of LCA thinking’ 23 November 2006, Savoy Place, London WC2R 0BL

  2. AN INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENTS OF WASTE DISPOSAL AND RECOVERY OPTIONS

  3. What is Life Cycle Analysis? Extraction

  4. International interest in life cycle thinking • ISO 14040:2006 Principles and framework • ISO 14044:2006 Requirements and Guidelines • The EU Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste anticipates bringing new environmental thinking and life-cycle thinking into waste policies • Revised Waste Framework Directive (75/442/EEC) links waste to resource life-cycles.

  5. Paper and cardboard – recovery or disposal? • A changing climate for EfW? • The impact of the carbon agenda on the waste management business • Managing biowastes from households in the UK • Dealing with food waste in the UK • Carbon balances and energy impacts of the management of UK wastes • Impact of energy from waste and recycling policy on UK greenhouse gas emissions • The case for a resource management strategy • Biffaward Mass-balance projects • Waste and Resources Assessment Tool for the Environment ……… • ………..& many more

  6. Why an international review? • Understand critical assumptions • Conflicting Findings • Critical Factors • Need to understand state of knowledge • - generally & for WRAP programmes

  7. Seven material categories • Paper & cardboard • Plastics • Glass • Wood • Steel • Aluminium • Aggregates

  8. Who did the work? • Technical University of Denmark, Department of Manufacturing Engineering and Management, Innovation and Sustainability, Denmark. • Danish Topic Centre on Waste, Denmark.

  9. Review of Life Cycle Analysis • Holistic LCAs • ISO 14040 standard methodology • Unambiguous • Comparative.

  10. Review of Life Cycle Analysis • 272 studies reviewed • 55 found to be of sufficient quality for review • 201 scenarios assessed across key impact categories

  11. Scope of LCA review

  12. Results • 83% favour recycling compared to incineration and landfill • Magnitude of carbon savings: current UK recycling avoids 10-15 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year • Assumes that boundary conditions from reviewed studies relevant to UK

  13. Results: System Boundaries • Expected Variations • Critical assumptions: • Waste Handling • Energy consumption

  14. System boundary assumptions (all materials apart from paper/cardboard)

  15. Two examples • Plastics (10 studies, 60 scenarios) • Glass (11 studies, 25 scenarios)

  16. Representation of results:Relative difference calculations • [Impact from glass recycling] - [Impact from landfilling glass] • _________________________________________ • [Impact from landfilling glass]

  17. Glass: Recycling vs. Landfill CO2-eq. saving from recycling CO2-eq. saving from landfill 11.1 10.1 9 9.1 8.2 Number of scenarios 7 4.1 3.1 5 2.7 2.6 3 2.3 2.2 2.5 1 7.1 1.1 9.2 2.1 2.4 0 1 2 3 -3 -2.5 -2 -1.5 -1 -0.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 Closed loop recycling scenario Open loop recycling scenario X.Y X.Y

  18. Plastics: Recycling vs. Incineration

  19. Filling some of the gaps ~WRAP LCAs in progress/ being considered • LCA of drinks containers, including PLA • LCA of Plasterboard • LCA of Aggregates • Further work on ‘open loop’ system: glass water filtration medium

  20. Conclusions • Review has increased understanding • ~ why differences occur • ~ critical assumptions/ boundary conditions for each material • Results broadly applicable to UK waste management context • Identified gaps • Allowed indicative estimates of current UK benefits of recycling

  21. The full report: • http://www.wrap.org.uk/about_wrap/environmental.html

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