This document discusses a study estimating plastic losses across the global plastics value chain in 2015. The study found total losses were 9.2 million metric tons. Mismanaged plastic waste and littering were identified as the largest sources of macroplastic losses, while the use stage was the main source of microplastic losses from sources like textile washing and cosmetics. Moving forward, the document recommends improving estimates of specific loss sources, studying the fate and impacts of macro and microplastics, and developing a framework to assess environmental damage from plastic losses to support informed decision-making.
Call Girls Chakan Call Me 7737669865 Budget Friendly No Advance Booking
OECD Modelling Plastics Use Projections Workshop - Morten Ryberg
1. DTU Management22 June 2020
Losses of plastics to
the environment
Morten W Ryberg
Group for Quantitative Sustainability Assessment (QSA)
DTU Management, Technical University of Denmark
1
2. DTU Management22 June 2020
Quantitative Sustainability Assessment (QSA)
What we do
• Focus on development of methods for assessing environmental performance and
sustainability of human activities
– nations, cities, industries and organizations, products and services
• Always with a focus on supporting robust and evidence-based decisions
• Among leading groups in development of life-cycle assessment (LCA) methods for
supporting environmentally sound decisions, e.g.:
– Supporting the EU commission on LCA related aspects
– Effects of chemicals on human health and environment (USEtox)
– Assessing sustainability of industries relative to Planetary Boundaries or UN SDGs
2
3. DTU Management22 June 2020
Estimating plastic losses across the plastics value
chain (1)
• Monitoring studies indicate a problem with plastic pollution
– Impacts on environment and potentially also humans
• Geyer et al. have shown the temporal development in use of plastics
– Problem if there is a correlation between production and pollution
3
4. DTU Management22 June 2020
Estimating plastic losses across the plastics value
chain (2)
• Losses related to different parts of the value chain have been reported
– E.g. Jambeck et al. reported a loss between 4.8 -12.7 Mt plastic from mismanaged plastic
waste in coastal countries
– Other studies have looked at different parts of the value chain or estimated national losses
of plastics
• A comprehensive overview of global losses across the entire value chain was lacking
– Needed to identify the leakage hotspots and knowing where to place focus to effectively
reduce plastic losses
4
5. DTU Management22 June 2020
Estimating plastic losses across the plastics value
chain (3)
• This study was done as a project for UN Environment and included inputs from various
stakeholders, e.g. plastic industry associations, researchers, NGOs and international
institutions (EU commission).
• First results Published in UN Env. report in 2018
• Improved estimates published in RCR in 2019
– Refined estimates, more loss sources, sensitivity and uncertainty
5
6. DTU Management22 June 2020
Methodology
Top-down plastic value chain mapping and estimation of plastic losses
• Modelling of general plastic value chain at regional level
• Using 2015 as reference year
• Include 11 regions, 23 polymers types, 13 applications
Production and Consumption
• Regional distribution of global plastics production and consumption was derived based on
production and consumption statistics
• Split into applications based on Geyer et al. and other application specific sources
• Assume same distribution of polymer use in applications across regions
6
7. DTU Management22 June 2020
Methodology
Waste management
• Generation of plastics waste as part of MSW
based on statistical modelling
• Amount of ‘other’ plastic wastes were based on
Geyer et al.
Wastewater treatment
– Based on information on national treatment
levels coupled with studies on plastic removal
7
Maldives
Saint Kitts & Nevis
Guyana
Barbados
St. Lucia
The Bahamas
Belize
Grenada
0
500
1000
1500
2000
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Predicted
Actual
MSW generation [kg / cap / yr]
1:1 line
Region)(log10 bGDPaInterceptMSW capitacapita
8. DTU Management22 June 2020
Methodology
Estimated losses
• All losses to the environment (not only marine)
• Losses were based on the type of applications, life-cycle stages and regions
– National assessments for DK, SE, NO, and DE
– Specific life cycle stages/plastic types (Jambeck et al. 2015; Boucher and Friot, 2017)
– Loss modelling and data gap filling, e.g. from WWTPs
• Quantifying and reporting uncertainty of estimates
– Indicating certainty of estimates
– Key parameters (uncertainty and model is sensitive)
Comparing losses with observations and impacts
• Observations of plastics in the ocean
• Reality check
8
9. DTU Management22 June 2020
Plastic losses
• Plastics are lost to soil, freshwater, and/or marine water
• Macroplastics
• Microplastics (<5mm)
–Primary microplastics
–Secondary microplastics
9
Raw
material
Polymer
producers
Plastic
processors
Production
of plastic
products
Use stage End-of-life
10. DTU Management22 June 2020 10
Total losses from global plastics value chain in
2015 = 9.2 Mt
13. DTU Management22 June 2020
Uncertianty
• Large variability
–Macro
• Known uncertainties
–Known unknowns?
–Unknown unknowns?
13
14. DTU Management22 June 2020
Important parameters
• Normalized sensitivity coefficient
14
15. DTU Management22 June 2020
Hotspots for losses of macroplastics
Macroplastics
• Mismanaged plastic waste management
– Uncontrolled landfilling and dumping
• Littering
– Recreational activities (e.g. beach littering), Direct losses from fishing/maritime activities
• Important plastic types
– fishing lines, fishing nets, plastic bags, traps, rope, strings, and ribbons
• Observed
15
Based on Ocean Conservancy (2011)
16. DTU Management22 June 2020
Hotspots for losses of microplastics
• Use stage is the hotspot for direct microplastic losses
– City dust
– Textile washing
– Cosmetics & personal care products
• Mismanaged plastic waste management AND littering (secondary microplastics)
• Observed Microplastics
– Microplastics are primarily of the type LDPE, HDPE, PP, PS, PA
• Types commonly used for packaging, and netting and traps (could indicate sec. MPs)
• But also primary microplastics e.g. beads used in cosmetics
• Difficult to detect the specific plastic application from sampling
– Rubber particles are not observed (some MPs are likely below the detection limit e.g.
nano-plastics)
16
17. DTU Management22 June 2020
Losses are nice to know but not enough
• Same 10 g loss, but potentially very different impacts on the environment
• For plastics, mass is not a strong proxy for impact.
– Mass is just the beginning
– We should aim for going beyond loss mass and move towards damage to environment
and humans
17
18. DTU Management22 June 2020
Impacts of plastics on marine environment
Macroplastics
• Ingestion or entanglement
• Worst macroplastics appears to be fishing lines, fishing nets,
plastic bags, traps, rope, strings, and ribbons
• Vectors of invasive species
Microplastics
• Hazardous substances
• Physical impacts (feed satiation, blocking photosynthesis, etc.)
18
19. DTU Management22 June 2020
Framework for assessing damage of plastic losses
19
Losses to freshwater compartment
Losses to terrestrial compartment
Losses to marine compartment
Landfill
Open
dump
WWTP
City dust
Road markings
Tyre abrasion
particles
Treated
wastewater
Littering
Maritime
activities
Untreated
wastewater
City dust
City dust
Tyre abrasion
particles
Road
markings
Untreated
wastewater
Treated
wastewater
WWTP
City dust
Fraction of
waste lost
Fraction of
mismanaged
waste lost
Building &
Transportation
sectors
Plastic
production
Sewage sludge on
agricultural land
Losses to freshwater compartment
Losses to terrestrial compartment
Losses to marine compartment
Landfill
WWTP
City
City dust
City dust
Tyre abrasion
particles
Road
Untreated
wastewater
Treated
wastewater
Fraction of
waste lost
Buil
Trans
se
Plastic
production
Sewage sludge on
agricultural land
20. DTU Management22 June 2020
Framework for assessing damage of plastic losses
• Damage = f(losses, fate, exposure, effect)
• So many activities are ongoing looking at
different parts of the equation
• We need to combine these to put numbers on
what is really relevant
20
Fate of polymer P, from product T, with set of properties U
Marine
compartment
Freshwater
compartment
Terrestrial
compartment
Plastic losses
to environment
21. DTU Management22 June 2020
Framework for assessing damage of plastic losses
• Comparing the importance of the losses
• Supporting strategies and policies for effective reduction of impacts from plastic pollution
21
22. DTU Management22 June 2020
Supporting holistic informed decisions through
life-cycle assessment
• We should not look at plastic pollution separately
• Our decisions should be holistic and look at the entire systems
– The full value chain or life-cycle
– All relevant environmental impacts
• Decisions about reducing plastic pollution must address potential burden shifting
– E.g., spending 100 times more fossil-based energy on plastic removal from WWTPs
would likely result in a higher net-impact because of increased emissions of GHGs and
particulates
• We need to integrate a plastic impact assessment framework as part of more holistic
assessment frameworks, such as life-cycle assessment
22
23. DTU Management22 June 2020
Supporting holistic informed decisions through
life-cycle assessment
• Support making the right decisions on an
informed basis.
– Identify potential synergies and
burden-shifts associated with decision-
making
23Plastic pollution
Comparison of water containers across
their life-cycle
24. DTU Management22 June 2020
Recommendations for future work
• Losses of plastics
– Improve knowledge about most important known loss sources
– Obtain more data, e.g. management industrial plastic waste e.g. C&D
– Maritime activities and littering
– Losses related to ‘city dust’
• Fate of macro- and microplastics in environment
– Transport of plastics in different environmental media (terrestrial, freshwater and marine)
– Weathering and degradation of plastics in the environment
• Impacts of macro- and microplastics on oceans
– Impacts of macroplastics and microplastics
– Different modes of action
• Putting everything into a collective (LCIA) framework for supporting sound decisions
24
25. DTU Management22 June 2020
Thank you for your attention!
Please feel free to contact me if you have questions for this study or
would like to collaborate on this very important topic
moryb@dtu.dk
25
Hinweis der Redaktion
We define hotspots as being the largest plastics losses to the environment which are also found in oceans and which are likely to cause the most impacts on marine environment
Plastics is not a bad product, in fact it has helped improving our life and it has contributed to a number of environmental benefits. The problem with plastic is the way we manage it. If we can mange plastics properly then we can solve the issue. The alternative to simply banning plastic might be much worse. We must think about the good solutions and develop integrated solutions across the life-cycle but also across borders and nations. Platic pollution is a globel problem and the the task of solving this should not only depend on a few countries.
