Life cycle assessment of plastic waste using openlca software

• Main Author: Mary Bansaron Raymond
• Format: Academic Exercise
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: TA1-2040 Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35218/1/24%20PAGES.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35218/2/FULLTEXT.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/35218/

This study examined the environmental effects of recycling high-density polyethylene (HDPE) ecofurniture using the OpenLCA software package. In this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) was adopted to compare the environmental impact of cradle-to-gate boundary of recycling and manufacturing 1 kg of ecofurniture functional unit. The objective of this study is to compile and develop relevant databases related to the plastic waste ecofurniture, to assess the LCA through OpenLCA in obtaining environmental impact of the waste-to-wealth product generation. Primary data (amount of plastic waste, electricity, emission and water) were gathered in a local recycling centre, EZplast Plastic and data from the European Life Cycle Data database. The CML Baseline impact method, which is readily available in the EcoInvent 37 LCIA database, is employed to determine plastic waste performance in terms of their impact categories. Seven environmental impacts categories were considered, namely climate change, human toxicity, ecotoxicity (terrestrial, fresh water and marine aquatic), acidification, ozone layer depletion, depletion of abiotic resources and photochemical oxidation. According to the life-cycle assessment findings, the consumption of electricity and HDPE during the manufacture of ecofurniture resulted in the greatest amount of environmental loading.