Life Cycle Assessment of Polymers in Qatar

Year 2011, Volume: 14 Issue: 3 - Volume: 14 Issue: 3, 0 - 0, 01.09.2011

Nesibe Gözde Özerkan Mariam AIMa’ Adeed Ramazan Kahraman

Abstract

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is gaining wider acceptance as a method that evaluates the environmental burdens associated with a product, process or activity by identifying and quantifying energy and materials used and wastes released to the environment, and assesses the impact of those energy and material used and released to the environment. It is also considered as one of the best environmental management tools that can be used to compare alternative eco-performances of recycling or disposal systems. In this study, life cycle assessments of polymer recycling are reviewed to protect global environment and to control waste in the polymer industry in Qatar. Since incremental population in this region results in a dramatic increase in the plastic consumption and unfortunately, the waste management system in the region has not been properly managed, yet. During the study, real data from the industry was used in the analysis of the environmental impact of plastics recycling by means of the application of the LCA methodology to the products and processes involved in mechanical recycling. The results obtained will help to understand the importance of the usage of recycling polymer materials and highlight, the clear advantages from the eco-efficiency viewpoint of plastic recycling against direct manufacturing from petroleum.

Keywords

Life Cycle Assessment, Polymers, Waste Management, Mechanical Recycling