Research Center for Resource Management and Solid Waste Engineering, University of Kassel, Mönchebergstraße 7, 34125 Kassel, Germany.
Research Center for Resource Management and Solid Waste Engineering, University of Kassel, Mönchebergstraße 7, 34125 Kassel, Germany.
Waste Manag. 2020 Jun 1;110:74-86. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2020.05.011. Epub 2020 May 24.
Material efficiency measures, such as recycling rates, are often used to set circular economy targets to achieve higher resource efficiency and lower environmental impact. The aim of this study was to identify material efficiency indicators suitable to reflect the environmental performance of waste and recycling systems using PET bottle waste management in three European countries with diverse waste management structures and recycling performance levels. Material flow analysis and life cycle assessment were performed to assess the material efficiency and environmental impacts of each system as a basis to analyze the relation between these two dimensions. PET bottle waste generation was 5.4 kg/person and year (pa) in Austria in 2013, 6.0 kg/pa in Germany in 2017 and 6.9 kg/pa in Serbia in 2015. Out of this waste flow 41%, 91%, and 11% were directed into PET recyclate in Austria, Germany and Serbia, respectively. For all systems, higher material efficiency translated into lower environmental impact and vice versa. However, linear regression analysis between different material efficiency indicators and environmental impacts showed that indicators targeted at actual recycling, specifically at closed loop, were better suited to reflect environmental performance than input-based indicators. Therefore, whenever data are available, output-based quality-related indicators should be used to measure the material efficiency of waste and resource systems because they correlate best with the goals of increasing resource efficiency and decreasing environmental impacts.
材料效率措施，如回收率，通常用于设定循环经济目标，以实现更高的资源效率和更低的环境影响。本研究的目的是确定适合反映废物和回收系统环境性能的材料效率指标，研究对象为三个具有不同废物管理结构和回收性能水平的欧洲国家的 PET 瓶废物管理。采用物质流分析和生命周期评价来评估每个系统的材料效率和环境影响，以此作为分析这两个维度之间关系的基础。2013 年，奥地利人均 PET 瓶废物产生量为 5.4 千克/人年，2017 年德国为 6.0 千克/人年，2015 年塞尔维亚为 6.9 千克/人年。在这些废物中，41%、91%和 11%分别被定向到奥地利、德国和塞尔维亚的 PET 再生料中。对于所有系统，较高的材料效率意味着较低的环境影响，反之亦然。然而，不同材料效率指标与环境影响之间的线性回归分析表明，针对实际回收，特别是闭环回收的指标，比基于投入的指标更适合反映环境性能。因此，只要有数据可用，就应使用基于产出的质量相关指标来衡量废物和资源系统的材料效率，因为它们与提高资源效率和减少环境影响的目标相关性最好。
