PARENT SESSION
WP1 LCA and related tools: Sustainable and green chemistry, LCC, MFA, SFA, DfE and Industrial Ecology
3:00 PM to 6:30 PM, Wednesday, 09 May 2001
Session Chair: S. Cowell
Room 1

(357) Eco-efficiency in recovery systems - A case study of the plastic packaging from households in the municipality of Trondheim, Norway.

Eik, Arne¹, Brattebo, Helge¹, Hertwich, Edgar², ^{1 2}

ABSTRACT- In the last couple of years many studies have been carried out to answer to what extent recovery of plastic packaging and other waste fractions are preferable from an environmental- and economical point of view. However, an general answer to this question can never be found, the conclusion will depend on the physical conditions in the actual system as well as the tools and indicators that are applied to evaluate the system., Four criteria for indicators to evaluate recovery systems are identified as crucial to give the actual decision makers the most relevant information regarding an existing or a possible future system; the indicators must be integrated in the decision making process, they must reflect the objective of the evaluation, they must be science-based and finally, the indicators must be applicable for the decision maker. These criteria are used as the basis to develop indicators for supporting decision making in the plastic packaging recovery systems in the municipality of Trondheim in Norway. Additionally, interviews with involved national and local actors have been carried out to obtain information on what are the most relevant parameters to make an environmental- and economical efficient recovery systems. By bringing these to types of criteria together, six indicators of eco-efficiency, involving costs, emissions, % recovery and use of energy, has been developed. The indicators has thereafter been slightly modified to make them in accordance with the needs of the main decision maker in the system, which is the waste section in the municipality of Trondheim. The indicators are applied on the system within a time period of two years and show that efforts to increase the recovery rate has improved the eco-efficiency of the system even though the costs have increased.

Key words: recovery system, plastic packaging, eco-efficiency indicators, life cycle performance