Chalmers Conferences, LCM 2013

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE END-OF-LIFE OF BIO-BASED PLASTICS IN A LCA: CURRENT CHALLENGES AND PROPOSALS
Antonio Dobon, Anne-Sophie Le Meur, Mercedes Hortal

Last modified: 2014-09-11

Abstract


Bio-based plastics are gaining market share and forecasts shows that the
demand of these materials will rise up to 178% in Europe by 2015. In case
of biodegradable bio-based plastics there is an increasing concern about the
different end-of-life options, since there are still not specific routes and
these materials may affect other end-of-life schemes. Furthermore,
discussions on the end-of-life regulations of bio-based plastics in the EU are
becoming a matter of interest. Moreover the end-of-life LCA data about
most of the bio-based plastics is based on estimations and even unavailable,
being a challenge for LCA practitioners. This study explores the current
end-of-life routes on a life cycle perspective and provides proposals to
ensure a proper modeling for bio-based plastics.

Keywords


bio-based plastics; LCA; end-of-life; modeling; uncertainty

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