A study of the plastic life cycle assessment

Traditionally, treatment of solid waste has been given limited attention in connection with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Often, only the amounts of solid wastes have been noted. This is unsatisfactory since treatment of solid waste, e.g., by landfilling or incineration, is an operation, requiring in...

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Main Author: Koo, Chai Hoon
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.utm.my/3704/1/KooChaiHoonMFKA2006.pdf
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author Koo, Chai Hoon
author_facet Koo, Chai Hoon
author_sort Koo, Chai Hoon
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description Traditionally, treatment of solid waste has been given limited attention in connection with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Often, only the amounts of solid wastes have been noted. This is unsatisfactory since treatment of solid waste, e.g., by landfilling or incineration, is an operation, requiring inputs and producing outputs, which should be described in the inventory of an LCA. This paper analyses the plastics from the LCA perspective, determines the main environmental burdens and expands the analysis on the improvement areas of the product for the purpose of lowering the environmental burdens. Within the constraints and boundaries imposed by the study, assumptions made, this paper describes different ways of disposing three plastic fractions in municipal solid waste. This study also provides solid waste decision-makers and environmental researchers with a mind set to evaluate waste management plans and to improve the environmental performance of solid waste management strategies. The results illustrated that recycling of plastic material, preferably combined with the use of plastics replacing plastics made from virgin materials, leads to decreased use of total energy and emissions of gases contributing to global warming effect.
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spelling utm.eprints-37042018-01-10T03:54:15Z http://eprints.utm.my/3704/ A study of the plastic life cycle assessment Koo, Chai Hoon GE Environmental Sciences Traditionally, treatment of solid waste has been given limited attention in connection with Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Often, only the amounts of solid wastes have been noted. This is unsatisfactory since treatment of solid waste, e.g., by landfilling or incineration, is an operation, requiring inputs and producing outputs, which should be described in the inventory of an LCA. This paper analyses the plastics from the LCA perspective, determines the main environmental burdens and expands the analysis on the improvement areas of the product for the purpose of lowering the environmental burdens. Within the constraints and boundaries imposed by the study, assumptions made, this paper describes different ways of disposing three plastic fractions in municipal solid waste. This study also provides solid waste decision-makers and environmental researchers with a mind set to evaluate waste management plans and to improve the environmental performance of solid waste management strategies. The results illustrated that recycling of plastic material, preferably combined with the use of plastics replacing plastics made from virgin materials, leads to decreased use of total energy and emissions of gases contributing to global warming effect. 2006-05 Thesis NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.utm.my/3704/1/KooChaiHoonMFKA2006.pdf Koo, Chai Hoon (2006) A study of the plastic life cycle assessment. Masters thesis, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Faculty of Civil Engineering.
spellingShingle GE Environmental Sciences
Koo, Chai Hoon
A study of the plastic life cycle assessment
title A study of the plastic life cycle assessment
title_full A study of the plastic life cycle assessment
title_fullStr A study of the plastic life cycle assessment
title_full_unstemmed A study of the plastic life cycle assessment
title_short A study of the plastic life cycle assessment
title_sort study of the plastic life cycle assessment
topic GE Environmental Sciences
url http://eprints.utm.my/3704/1/KooChaiHoonMFKA2006.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT koochaihoon astudyoftheplasticlifecycleassessment
AT koochaihoon studyoftheplasticlifecycleassessment