Packaging is one of the biggest sectors in the world and the use of aluminium is widespread in the packaging industry. Pharmaceutical blister packages generate a significant amount of solid waste, ...typically containing plastics and aluminium as thin layers. Since these packages have a complex structure with multiple layers, they are hard to recycle. A separation process of the plastic and aluminium is needed prior to recycling. Hydrometallurgical or thermal processes can be used for the separation. This work reviews the characterization of different types of blisters and the different reagents used in the separation process of the blister layers. Parameters and results of separation processes by using hydrochloric acid, formic acid, acetic acid, organic solvents, and phosphoric acid were discussed as well as the thermal degradation.
•Blister packages have a complex structure with multiple layers, they are hard to recycle.•A separation process of the plastic and aluminium is needed prior to recycling.•Hydrometallurgical or thermal processes can be used for the separation.•This work reviews the characterization of pharmaceutical blisters as well as the separation techniques of plastic and aluminium layers.
Nowadays, there is a severe problem with waste generation, especially with single-use packaging. Although the trend is to try to recycle or reuse this waste, a significant amount still ends up in ...landfills, which represents a serious environmental problem. This waste includes laminated materials, which are difficult to recycle because the polymeric material and aluminium layers cannot be separated easily. This work proposes the study of the valorisation of several laminated wastes as radon barriers for indoor spaces due to the similarity in composition between these waste and commercial radon barriers. For this purpose, the diffusion coefficient of laminated wastes composed of polymeric and aluminium materials, with thicknesses between 70 and 500 μm, has been calculated using a modification of the ISO/TS 11665–13:2017 standard. The diffusion coefficients obtained are in the range of 10−12 and 10−14 m2/s, a reduction of radon concentration of over 90%, and a high radon resistance is achieved in all cases. These results show the excellent capacity of these materials to slow down radon and indicate that these wastes could be reused to manufacture radon barriers giving a new life to these materials and contributing to sustainable development and a circular economy.
•Multilayer material is a waste with great environmental impact as it cannot be recycled.•Polymers and aluminium are the main components of radon barriers and multilayer wastes.•The effectiveness of household laminated wastes as radon barriers has been measured.•The liquid packaging board obtains the best results, achieving a 99.9% radon reduction.
•Flexible plastic packaging waste is a common environmental pollutant.•Pyrolysis ̶ catalytic oil upgrading ̶ MWCNTs synthesis was investigated.•Catalytic oil upgrading over Fe-ZSM removes oxygenated ...compounds released from PET.•Non-condensable pyrolysis gas is converted into MWCNTs.•Electrodes from MWCNTs showed superior activity during oxygen reduction reaction.
Flexible plastic packaging waste causes serious environmental issues due to challenges in recycling. This study investigated the conversion of flexible plastic packaging waste with 11.8 and 27.5 wt.% polyethylene terephthalate (PET) (denoted as PET-12 and PET-28, respectively) into oil and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The mixtures were initially pyrolyzed and the produced volatiles were processed over 9.0 wt.% Fe2O3 supported on ZSM-5 (400 °C) to remove oxygenated hydrocarbons (catalytic cracking of terephthalic and benzoic acids) that deteriorate oil quality. The contents of oxygenated hydrocarbons were decreased in oil from 4.6 and 9.4 wt.% per mass of PET-12 and PET-28, respectively, to undetectable levels. After catalytic cracking, the oil samples had similar contents of gasoline, diesel and heavy oil/wax fractions. The non-condensable gas was converted into MWCNTs over 0.9 wt.% Ni supported on CaCO3 (700 °C). The type of plastic packaging influenced the yields (2.4 and 1.5 wt.% per mass of PET-12 and PET-28, respectively) and the properties of MWCNTs due to the differences in gas composition. Regarding the electrocatalytic application, both MWCNTs from PET-12 and PET-28 outperformed commercial MWCNTs and Pt-based electrodes during oxygen evolution reaction, suggesting that MWCNTs from flexible plastic packaging can potentially replace conventional electrode materials.
Wasted food (WF) and the associated waste derived from young adults have gained increased attention due to their rising quantity and negative environmental impacts; however, WF reduction measures are ...still scare. To address this gap, we conducted a case study (Wuhan) targeted at typical young adults (e.g., university students) using the direct weighing method (1872 samples), field investigation (195990 samples), and a questionnaire survey (799 samples). Owing to the low “Clean your plate” (CYP) rate (48 ± 36% per meal) and the high canteen takeout rate (43 ± 22% per meal) generated by the surveyed students, the investigated canteens in Wuhan produced 63 thousand metric tons (TMt) of canteen waste and 198 TMt CO2e during the life cycle stage in 2022. Food was primarily wasted due to food quantity (e.g., over-purchase of food) and quality (e.g., poor taste), and packaging waste was generated due to canteen takeout (PW_CT). We suggest the adoption of an online waste reduction platform to effectively reduce WF and PW_CT, which was designed with two mitigation solutions (CYP, “Over-Purchasing Reminder” OPR, and “Canceling Packaging Option” CPO modules for SI; CYP, OPR, and “Sharing Tableware Option” STO modules for SII). When in operation, the platform helped consumers prevent the generation of approximately 42 and 43 TMt of canteen waste generated for SI and SII, respectively. This was accompanied by the maximal economic value (saving 73 million USD for SI) and the maximal climate benefits (143 TMt CO2e mitigation for SII).
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•A considerably amount of wasted food generated by university students accompanied by low “Clean your plate” rate.•The high canteen takeout rate generated by students led to a large amount of packaging waste.•Online waste reduction (OWR) platform was targeted wasted food and packaging waste from university canteens.•The significance of OWR platform was proved by its environmental benefit and economical values.
The rapid development of the express delivery industry brings convenience to people, while the large number of Express delivery packaging waste also imposes a burden on the environment. This paper ...chooses Chinese urban residents as the research object, and takes the residents’ Express waste recycling behavior as the research background. By using path analysis, this paper intends to measure and analyze the relationship among social capital, situational factors and individual differences variables in the context of Express waste recycling behavior. The result indicates that among the social capital variables, the direct and indirect roles of the social community trust in each acting path are extremely obvious and the degree of its association with the social community relationship is the highest, which indicates that a community should create an opportunity for the residents to communicate, consolidate and improve their trust bond with one another. As the intervention measure of Express waste recycling behavior, the situation variables must pay attention to the importance of the timing of the promulgation of measures. Furthermore, the residents with master degree and or aged 31–40 should become the focus of future research. This research not only provides theoretical support for the study of Express waste recycling behavior from the perspective of social capital, it also provides reference to relevant government departments and communities so that they can guide residents to participate actively in more Pro-environment behavior.
•Express waste recycling behavior has become a newly developing pro-environment behavior (PEB).•Using Social capital as the core variable can offer a novel research outlook for other PEB.•It has figured out the driving effect of PEB from a more detailed and individualized perspective.•The path analysis can be used as a method reference for behavioral research in other disciplines.
•About 3 million ton of plastic packaging waste was generated from households in 2017.•Material footprint of single-use plastics consumption was estimated to be 638 units per capita a year.•A large ...fraction of the waste was incinerated by emitting greenhouse gasses.•The recycling of plastic packaging waste could reduce about 6.6 million ton of CO2eq per year.
Environmentally sound management of plastic packaging waste is an issue of concern around the world because it causes potential threats to oceans and the environment upon disposal and mismanagement. This study examines the current efforts on recycling of the waste by extended producer responsibility (EPR) in South Korea as well as other countries. Material flow analysis (MFA) was performed on plastic packaging by life cycle. Based on the results in this study, material footprint of common single use plastics (i.e., PET water bottles, plastic cups, plastic bags, and plastic containers and cutlery by food delivery) by consumption was estimated to be on average 11.8 kg or 638 disposable plastics per capita a year, resulting in 32.6 billion disposable plastics and 603,000 ton of waste for disposal in South Korea. Approximately, 3 million ton of plastic packaging waste from household waste streams in 2017 in South Korea was generated and treated by energy recovery with solid refuse fuels and heat recovery, incineration without energy recovery, material recycling, and landfilling. Material recycling and recovery rates of plastic packaging waste from households were relatively low at 13.5% and 50.5%, respectively. It was estimated that as much as 3.6 million ton of CO2eq was generated from 2.7 million ton of plastic waste by incineration in 2017. Approximately 6.6 million ton CO2eq could be avoided by material recycling. Challenges and efforts have been discussed to improve current recycling system of plastic packaging waste towards a circular economy.
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•16 different types of PET trays from LWP and SP’s samples were characterised.•Composition of PET tray as packaging objects, polymers, contaminants was determined.•Mechanical and chemical ...recyclability assessment of PET trays was implemented.•A few less common PET trays are suitable to obtain rPET through mechanical process.•For the most common PET trays the more appropriate recycling is depolymerisation.
The compositions of Dutch lightweight packaging waste (LWP) and sorted products named “PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) trays” have been determined on object level. Additionally, the PET trays from both waste types were sorted in 16 categories representing their packaging use and material build-up. The material composition of at least 10 representative trays from each category was determined with chemical and thermal analysis, based on which the average material composition per category was established. Based on this data the average material composition of sorted PET tray products was approximated. The recyclability of the various categories of PET trays was assessed based on their material build-up. The most ubiquitous PET trays in Dutch LWP and sorted products were only found to be suitable to produce opaque recycled PET with mechanical recycling processes. Whereas only some more uncommon PET trays can be used to produce transparent recycled PET with mechanical recycling processes. Depolymerisation is deemed to be a more appropriate recycling process that will allow the production of transparent food-grade recycled PET.
•Plastic packaging waste reduction depends on motivation, ability, and opportunity.•Environmental concern and social norms motivate consumers plastic waste reduction.•Consumers lack sufficient ...knowledge to avoid and recycle plastic packaging.•Convenience is prerequisite for plastic packaging waste avoidance and recycling.
Plastic waste, primarily from packaging, is a growing threat to nature and the environment and a waste of resources, calling for a greener, circular economy based on waste avoidance and recycling. This paper contributes to this goal by providing a systematic review of research, published in English between 2015 and 2020, on drivers and barriers of consumers’ plastic packaging waste avoidance and recycling in private households. Focus is specifically on economically developed countries because they are responsible for the biggest share of plastic packaging waste and have implemented the most advanced and ambiguous legislation and regulation for plastic packaging waste prevention and recycling. Based on a search in Scopus, 36 peer-reviewed articles were identified that empirically address what motivates consumers to engage in these activities and what difficulties and hindrances they experience for doing so in an effective way. According to this research, the most important drivers of consumers’ plastic packaging waste avoidance and recycling are environmental concern and task-specific benefits, and the most important barriers are lack of knowledge and understanding as well as lack of opportunities, inconvenience, and task difficulty. Moreover, there is some evidence that plastic packaging waste avoidance and recycling behaviours are interlinked, contingent on shared motives and understanding, which calls for an integrated approach considering potential positive and negative spill-over between plastic packaging waste behaviours.
Packaging materials can arise from a wide range of sources and are commonly used for food, medicine, household appliances, and items to enclose or protect products during distribution, storage, sale, ...delivery, and use. The choice of material (paper, plastic, glass, wood, metal, multi-layer or other packaging) to be used depends on the type and properties of product, the purpose of packaging, and the price.
The aim of the investigation is to analyse the morphological composition of packaging waste collected separately in Kaunas (Lithuanian) private households and to evaluate its recycling possibilities. The mixture of paper, plastic, and metal packaging waste was analyzed in the winter and spring (one time per month) in the waste management company JSC "Kauno švara".
A year into the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, the role of washing hands with soap and hand disinfectants is unavoidable as a primary way to control the infection spread in communities and ...healthcare facilities. The extraordinary surge in demand for handwashing products has led to environmental concerns. Since soaps are complex mixtures of toxic and persistent active ingredients, the prudent option is to promote eco-friendly replacements for the current products. On the other hand, with the increase in soap packaging waste production, soap packaging waste management and recycling become essential to reduce environmental impact. This systematic review aimed to collect some recent methods for identifying biodegradable and sustainable raw materials to produce and package cleaning agents, especially soap.
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•Significant increase in consumption of soaps cleaning products during the COVID-19•Increased soap packaging waste and detergent wastewater as environmental challenges•Sustainable production of eco-friendly soaps from natural and biodegradable components•Reduce, reuse, recycle, and redesigning as a green strategy reduces waste packaging
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