The impacts of bio-plastics on South Africa s waste and secondary resources economy. Dr Linda Godfrey Plastics SA Seminar 2 June 2015

Transcription

1 The impacts of bio-plastics on South Africa s waste and secondary resources economy Dr Linda Godfrey Plastics SA Seminar 2 June 2015

2 OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION 1. Building a regional secondary resources economy in South Africa 2. Bio-plastics within a circular economy 3. Sustainability and informed product choice - tools 4. Bioplastics and opportunities for South Africa CSIR

3 BUILDING A SECONDARY RESOURCES ECONOMY Creating opportunities for a secondary resources economy stems from the implementation of the waste hierarchy Embedded in national policy (Waste Act, NWMS) Focus is on preventing waste, followed by reuse, recycling, recovery CSIR

4 BUILDING A SECONDARY RESOURCES ECONOMY Objectives: - Mainstream the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as intended in the NWMS - Reduce the generation of waste - Increase the diversion of waste away from landfill towards reuse, recycling and recovery - Support the growth of a Southern African (regional) secondary resources economy from waste Government Gazette, No , 2 February 2015 CSIR

5 BUILDING A SECONDARY RESOURCES ECONOMY The development and deployment of performance improvements in waste management has delivered a significant contribution to the strengthening of a sustainable, regional secondary resources economy in South Africa CSIR

6 WASTE MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA Linda Godfrey

7 WASTE MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA Linda Godfrey 90% of the waste generated in SA is still disposed of to landfill (dumpsites) Valuable, finite resources (fibre, polymer, metals, etc.) lost (>R17b is being lost to the SA economy) Recovering recyclables, e.g. plastic, contributes towards building a secondary resources economy

8 DRIVERS OF BIOPLASTICS Perceptions exist that - Because South Africa still landfills so much waste (90%), including plastic - Because landfills cause environmental and human health impacts - Because plastics (especially plastic bags) cause litter in environment - We should create products that are biodegradable - That way, they ll break down in the environment before they can cause longterm impacts - But this has raised concerns of a threat of biodegradable plastics to traditional plastic recycling CSIR

9 There is a more to bioplastics that biodegradable plastics CSIR

10 BIOPLASTICS Perceptions of threat: Drop-in bioplastics Threat to the organic recycling industry Non-biodegradable biobased plastics have the same properties and functionalities as their fossil counterparts. Recycling and recovery follow the same routes as conventional PE or PP products do. Threat to the oil industry Conventional plastics e.g. PE, PP, PET Threat to the environment Threat to the food industry Threat to the plastic recycling industry Biodegradation does not depend on the resource basis of a material (bio or fossil) but is linked to its chemical structure Three groups of bioplastics - Biobased nonbiodegradable plastics - Fossil-based biodegradable plastics - Plastics that are both biobased and biodegradable

11 DRIVERS OF BIOPLASTICS Price of oil (fossil fuels) Resource scarcity (renewable vs non-renewable) New strategic (green) industries Increasing public concern about the environment, climate change End-of-life disposal (landfill) Environmental policy e.g. Japanese government set the goal that 20% of all plastics consumed in Japan would be renewably sourced by 2020 ( Biomass Nippon Strategy ) e.g. Opportunities of bioplastics identified in SA s Bio-Economy strategy (2013) CSIR

12 BIOPLASTICS AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY Separation Recycling Traditionally landfill, or separation for recycling Organic recycling (i.e. industrial composting) Traditional linear to a circular economy Waste (food and biodegradable packaging) goes to organic treatment rather than plastic recycling No need for separation of plastic recyclables Creating biodegradable products results in only single use

13 BIOPLASTICS AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY Biological materials Technical materials Make Consume Enrich Make Use Return Biodegradable Biobased, nonbiodegradable Adapted from Ellen MacArthur Foundation

14 SUSTAINABILITY AND INFORMED PRODUCT CHOICE Biodegradable bioplastics are a GROWING NICHE MARKET. They are often used in short-lived applications such as biowaste bags or packaging of fresh produce. Matching content to packaging Lightweight, low-value flexible packaging

15 SUSTAINABILITY AND INFORMED PRODUCT CHOICE Product requirements - Reliability - Size, shape, and mass - Cost - Manufacturing - Industry standards - Government regulations Choosing sustainable products and materials (Ashby chart) Sustainability requirements - Choosing sustainable materials - Understanding the full lifecycle of the product (including end-of-life) CSIR

16 THE CASE OF THE NESPRESSO CAPSULE Sustainable packaging Aluminium or biobased? Packaging markets consume more than 60% of all global bioplastics production - Smithers Pira (2014)

17 THE CASE OF THE NESPRESSO CAPSULE Nespresso sold an estimated 28 billion capsules worldwide (2013) about 28 million kilograms of aluminium of which it said it collected "75% of all capsules sold worldwide Companies have created more environmentally friendly vegetable-based biodegradable coffee capsules that can be composted But are biobased, biodegradable coffee capsules in fact more environmentally friendly than aluminium capsules? Comparative full life-cycle analysis of a cup of espresso made using a packaging and distribution system from Nespresso Espresso and three generic products CSIR

18 THE CASE OF THE NESPRESSO CAPSULE Product comparisons using LCA - Nespresso product aluminium capsule - Generic capsule 1 (GP1) polypropylene, aluminium, polyethylene - Generic capsule 2 (GP2) polypropylene and PET - Generic capsule 3 (GP3) bioplastic (mix polylactic acid and starch) Various end-of-life scenarios - Trash: 100% incineration (Inc) with energy recovery in Switzerland, 51% incineration with energy recovery and 49% landfill in France - Recy: Recycling; DFS: Direct Fuel Substitution; - AD: anaerobic digestion; IC: industrial composting; - Land: Landfill Analysis includes the coffee supply, packaging, production centre, distribution, use, and end-of-life stages CSIR

19 GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS PER CUP

20 IMPACTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE PER CUP Aluminium capsule, if sent to recycling has the lowest overall environmental impact, when compared to alternatives (-16%) Best packaging solution depends on end of life option trash, recycling or methanisation Bioplastic does not necessarily reduce environmental impacts (unless with methanisation anaerobic digestion) * Methanisation is the decomposition of organic matter by microbial ecosystems in the absence on oxygen

21 DST WASTE RDI ROADMAP FOCUS AREAS Developing capability and undertaking research in life-cycle analysis (LCA) Modelling and Analytics Cluster

22 OPPORTUNITIES IN BIOPLASTICS Global bioplastics production capacity is set to grow 300% by 2018 Greatest growth is in biobased, nondegradable plastics Bioplastic production capacities are growing fastest outside of Europe Renewable resources for bioplastics currently include annual crops, such as corn and sugar beet, or perennial cultures, such as cassava and sugar cane.

23 OPPORTUNITIES IN BIOPLASTICS Bioplastics market will reach a market value of $3.94 billion in 2014? Source: European Bioplastics, Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites, nova-institute (2014) More information: and

24 OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOUTH AFRICA Opportunities for bioplastic production from biomass in South Africa? Opportunities for bioplastic production from biomass waste in South Africa? DST Waste RDI Roadmap identified both plastic and organic waste as priority waste streams - Biomass waste (organic waste) single largest general waste stream generated in South Africa - Focus to date on waste-to-energy, emerging biorefinery CSIR

25 CONCLUSIONS Strong policy drive to create a regional secondary resources economy (based on recycling) Growing interest in the use of bioplastics in South Africa - Often driven by perceptions of benefits and threats Product choice must be considered carefully from a full product lifecycle perspective, including end-oflife - Tools such as LCA to inform CSIR

26 CONCLUSIONS There are cases where products from biobased and biodegradable plastic are warranted There are risks but there are also opportunities for South Africa - Risks - traditional plastics recycling (biodegradable plastics) - Opportunities - establish new strategic green industries (biobased plastics) How do we harness these opportunities? CSIR

27 Thank you Web: Web: