PVC Cables From A Life Cycle Perspective

Transcription

1 PVC Cables From A Life Cycle Perspective Dr Jason Leadbitter Sustainability Manager, INEOS ChlorVinyls & Chairman of VinylPlus Controlled Loop Committee

2 Contents Life Cycle Assessments of PVC Cables Regulatory Pressures on Waste and the impact from cables WEEE Directive Green Paper on Plastics Waste European Commission Communication on Circular Economy VinylPlus Voluntary Commitment PVC Cables contribution to the EC s Circular Economy Conclusions & Recommendations Resources

3 Is it Safe?!!! Cables are essential to our modern way of life They are almost taken for granted They are the arteries in our homes Hidden behind walls And in some cases only too accessible! Cables are highly specified for safety and functionality Whilst safety must be our No.1 Priority this paper focuses on the importance of Life Cycle Assessment on PVC Cables

4 Recycling/ Reuse What is Life Cycle Assessment? System Boundary Extraction Cradle to gate Water Energy Raw materials Processing Manufacture Use Emissions to air Emissions to soil Emissions to water Disposal End of Life Cradle to grave

5 LCA Can Consist of 4 Major Steps Goal Definition and Scoping Why are we doing it? Life Cycle Inventory Quantifying the inputs and outputs Life Cycle Impact Assessment Characterising the effects of both the inputs and outputs on the environment and human health Life Cycle Interpretation Puts the LCIA into context by drawing conclusions as well as undertaking a sensitivity analysis and providing the opportunity to see where improvements can be made

6 Why is LCA so Important? Raw Materials used in cables contain finite resources Copper, a great conductor is the most valuable component of a cable largely due to its scarcity in nature Oil/Natural Gas used to manufacture polymers for use in insulation and jacketing including PVC, PE, are also finite resources In the years ahead this will become increasingly more apparent LCAs are useful tools to assist in addressing Consumption of raw materials Emissions during manufacture Importance of the use phase End-of-life scenarios

7 LCA Studies on Cables European Commission Study LCA of PVC and Competing Materials 2004 PVC Cable does not seem to have significant competitors within the cable applications studied therefore few LCA studies exist. Recycling processes have been in place some time due to the high economic value of recovered copper and aluminium. Economically feasible options exist for the recycling of the recovered PVC.

8 LCA Studies from Europe Dr. José María Baldasano Recio et. al. (1995), University of Catalonia, Spain published a paper on: Production, use and Final Disposal of PVC, XLPE and PE Cables It focused on two impacts; Energy Consumption CO 2 Emissions Assumptions For the lifetime (50 years) of 1 metre of RS 35 mm 2 single-pole cable Results PVC cables: energy consumption of 144 kwh m -1 and the associated CO 2 emission of 65 kg. PE and XLPE cables: energy consumptions both of around 198 kwh m -1 and the associated CO 2 emission of 88 kg. Including 25% recycled materials in the composition of the PVC cable signified an energy saving in the region of just 0.1%. Key Conclusion The use phase dominates the energy consumption and CO 2 of the above cables i.e. energy losses due to heat dissipation during the life of the cable are much bigger than emissions due to raw materials used in cable production

9 LCA Studies from USA The US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) performed a very detailed LCA study in 2008 on behalf of the Wire and Cable Industry Many impacts It compared 3 cable types namely: CMR Category 6 riser rated communication cable CMP Category 6 plenum rated communications cable NM-B Non metallic sheathed low voltage power cable Various combinations of polymeric cable types were used including PVC (Pb and non-pb), PE as well as FEP Some observations were noted as follows: For CMR Cable types: Pb Free systems were better for a range of impact categories For cradle to gate analysis zero halogen cables had far greater environmental burden in all of the impact categories (except for toxicity) For CMP Cable types: Pb Free systems were better for a range of impact categories For NM-B Cable types: Pb-Free systems were consistently better for nearly all impact categories Main contributor to the impact is the manufacture of the polymer itself (study excludes copper)

10 Regulatory Drivers on Plastics Waste and the Impact from Cables WEEE Directive (2012/19/EU) Binding targets for the recycling of Waste EEE From 2016 minimum collection rate shall be 45% (total WEEE collected, expressed as a % of average weight of EEE placed on the market in 3 preceding years By the end of 2019, this figure rises to 65%. EC Green Paper on Plastics Waste (March 2013) Addresses plastic waste not specifically addressed by EU waste legislation Plastics recycling alone has the potential to create162,000 jobs if recycling increases up to a level of 70% by Greatest number of jobs created from WEEE Plastics account for around 8% global oil consumption hence re-use and recycling saving on resources and greenhouse emissions Communication from European Commission on Circular Economy (July 2014) How can we move from linear flow to a circular economy? Ban on plastics in landfills by 2025 Boost reuse and recycling of municipal waste to a minimum of 70% by 2030 All of the above will act as drivers for closing the loop so how is PVC doing?

11 From Vinyl 2010 to VinylPlus and beyond Waste management Additives of concern Addressing sustainability as a whole Holistic approach to recycling Goal: 800,0000 tonnes per year Focus on sustainable use of additives Sustainability awareness

12 CHALLENGE 1 Controlled Loop Progress made More recycling, better recyclate nt of PVC throughout its entire lifecycle 444,468 tonnes of PVC recycled in 2013 A network of 155 Recyclers (Recovinyl) Traceability of recyclates including additives Safety Data Sheets for Recyclates Pull market (encourage converters to use recyclate) Industry investment over 5.6 million, from which 1.6 million in R&D

13 Recyclers in the Recovinyl network Austria 2 Belgium 5 Bulgaria 1 Czech Republic 5 Denmark 1 France 19 Germany 32 Hungary 2 Italy 15 Poland 8 Portugal 5 Romania 8 Slovakia 2 Spain 13 Sweden 3 The Netherlands 7 The United Kingdom

14 PVC recycled in 2013 : 444,468 tonnes!

15 Evolution of PVC Cables Recycling in Europe (Tonnes) PVC Cables Recycling Source: Audited Figures reported in Annual Progress Reports of VinylPlus and Vinyl 2010

16 PVC Cables A clear Demonstration of the Circular Economy

17 Conclusions & Recommendations PVC cables perform well with regard to Life Cycle Assessment LCAs put the science back into the debate We have nothing to fear and everything to gain from them! PVC Cables industry is well ahead of the game in terms of its contribution to a circular economy And we can do more! We need to ensure that all PVC cable waste recycling is reported via Recovinyl Build upon the growing range of recycled applications especially those being developed for construction Ensure that we communicate on all the benefits from PVC Cables Key Message to cable producers Think out of the box - design your PVC cables for more than one life!

18 We can learn a lot from nature Possiamo imparare molto dalla natura

19 Resources European Commission LCA Study on PVC and Its Alternatives Estimate of energy consumption and CO2 emission associated with production use and disposal of PVC, XLPE and PE Cables Dr. José María Baldasano Recio et. al. (1995), University of Catalonia, Spain Available from A Sevenster, ECVM arjen.sevenster@plasticseurope.org Wire and Cable Insulation and Jacketing: LCA for Selected Applications, The US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) (2008) Available from A Sevenster, ECVM arjen.sevenster@plasticseurope.org WEEE Directive 2012/19/EU July European Commission Green Paper on Plastics Waste COM (2013) 123 Final Communication from European Commission on Circular Economy COM (2014) 398 Final VinylPlus Voluntary Commitment Recovinyl Website INEOS ChlorVinyls