Department of Environmental Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Department of Environmental Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Waste Manag. 2022 Jan 1;137:139-149. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2021.10.038. Epub 2021 Nov 10.
Packaging accounts for the largest demand for global plastic consumption and around 60% is for food and beverage packaging. The amount of packaging is increasing rapidly due to the expansion of retailer industries, especially in supermarkets and convenience stores. Plastic recycling strategies for food packaging in retailer industries need to be developed, but the current consumption and recycling status is not clear. To address this knowledge gap, this study quantifies the food packaging generation from major supermarket and convenience store chains in Taipei, Taiwan. We focus on the composition, recycling habit, and the recycling status to evaluate the packaging recyclability and major pathways for material losses. Based on our field survey and analysis, the total amount of plastic packaging generation was 21846.04 tons in 2020 with 64.99% of it being recycled. We defined the recycling rates as the continued product of Recyclable Content Ratio of the packaging itself, Sorting Accuracy Ratio of consumers, and Re-granulated Ratio in the final treatment facilities. These three ratios for major food categories were also presented to identify the hotspots of material losses. Our results suggest that to promote plastic food packaging recycling, identifying the limitations in different stages and designing corresponding strategies is crucial.
包装占全球塑料消费需求的最大份额，约 60%用于食品和饮料包装。由于零售商行业（尤其是超市和便利店）的扩张，包装数量迅速增加。需要制定零售商行业食品包装的塑料回收策略，但目前的消费和回收状况尚不清楚。为了解决这一知识空白，本研究量化了台湾台北主要超市和便利店连锁店的食品包装产生量。我们专注于组成、回收习惯和回收状况，以评估包装的可回收性和主要材料损失途径。根据我们的实地调查和分析，2020 年塑料包装产生总量为 21846.04 吨，其中 64.99%得到了回收。我们将回收率定义为包装本身的可回收含量比、消费者分类准确性比和最终处理设施中再颗粒化率的连续乘积。还呈现了主要食品类别的这三个比率，以确定材料损失的热点。我们的研究结果表明，要促进塑料食品包装的回收，必须确定不同阶段的限制并设计相应的策略。
