Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Calle Inca Garcilaso, 41092 Seville, Spain.
Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Calle Inca Garcilaso, 41092 Seville, Spain.
Waste Manag. 2022 Jun 1;146:11-19. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2022.04.037. Epub 2022 May 6.
Quality of recycling is a concept used by many authors in the scientific literature and the EU legislator. However, a clear definition of what is intended for quality of recycling and a framework for operationalising it is lacking. Most studies, while proposing indicators reflecting quality, leave the concept of quality largely undefined. Such lack of clarity is an obstacle to the conception of robust policies addressing recycling and circular economy. In this article, we review the available studies investigating on recycling quality, synthetize the approaches available and conclude suggesting a way forward for research to operationalise the definition to support circular economy policy measures and monitoring. Essentially, quality is not an on/off criterion. The definition of quality of recycling should consider that quality depends on technical characteristics of the recyclate, which determine if it is adequate (thus functional) for a certain end application or not. Furthermore, it should consider that the recyclate can be used in different end applications over different markets and that can be adequate for substitution of primary resources in certain applications, but less or not in others. At system-wide level, this results in a certain degree of virgin resource substitution. To this end, preserving functionality, i.e. minimising the recyclate loss of functions via functional recycling, is key. Drawing upon studies on waste management, life cycle assessment and resource dissipation, we link the concept of functionality to substitutability of virgin resources and broader suitability in the circular economy, striving to show the linkages between different perspectives.
回收质量是许多科学文献和欧盟立法者使用的概念。然而，对于回收质量的含义以及实施该概念的框架缺乏明确的定义。大多数研究虽然提出了反映质量的指标，但对质量概念的定义仍然很模糊。这种不明确性是制定解决回收和循环经济问题的稳健政策的障碍。在本文中，我们回顾了调查回收质量的现有研究，综合了现有的方法，并得出结论，建议为研究提供一种方法，以实施该定义，为循环经济政策措施和监测提供支持。本质上，质量不是一个开/关的标准。回收质量的定义应考虑到质量取决于再生料的技术特性，这些特性决定了它是否适合（因此是否具有功能性）特定的最终应用。此外，还应考虑到再生料可以在不同的市场中用于不同的最终应用，并且可以在某些应用中替代原生资源，而在其他应用中则替代程度较低或不能替代。在系统层面上，这导致了一定程度的原生资源替代。为此，保持功能，即通过功能回收使再生料的功能损失最小化，是关键。通过借鉴废物管理、生命周期评估和资源耗散方面的研究，我们将功能的概念与原生资源的可替代性以及循环经济中的更广泛适用性联系起来，努力展示不同视角之间的联系。
