[tcrp-news] ACC's plastic LCI supports recycling as GHG tool

Tompkins County Relocalization Project tcrp-news at lists.ibiblio.org
Wed May 12 11:55:39 EDT 2010


Dear Friends--The following is forwarded from the GreenYes mailing list. Tom

>>At 06:22 PM 5/11/2010, Lacaze, Skip wrote:
>>This life cycle inventory may provide useful 
>>information for those supporting recycling over 
>>disposal or energy recovery (assuming that you 
>>have a way to accumulate clean postconsumer plastic):    [Emphasis added.]
>>
>>See 
>><http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/sec_news_article.asp?CID=206&DID=10916>http://www.americanchemistry.com/s_acc/sec_news_article.asp?CID=206&DID=10916 
>>for more information and links to the study.
>>
>>New Study Confirms Recycling Plastics 
>>Significantly Reduces Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
>>
>>ARLINGTON, VA (April 28, 2010) – A new study 
>>confirms that recycling plastics, specifically 
>>PET and HDPE, results in significant savings in 
>>energy and greenhouse gas emissions. The study 
>>used life cycle inventory (LCI) methodology to 
>>quantify the energy requirements, solid wastes, 
>>and atmospheric and waterborne emissions for 
>>the processes required to collect postconsumer 
>>PET and HDPE packaging, sort and separate the 
>>material, and reprocess it into clean recycled resin.
>>
>>Based on the LCI study results and data from 
>>U.S. EPA, the generation of cleaned recycled 
>>resin required 71 trillion Btu less than the 
>>amount of energy that would be required to 
>>produce the equivalent tonnage of virgin PET 
>>and HDPE resin. In other words, the amount of 
>>energy saved by recycling PET and HDPE 
>>containers including bottles in 2008 was the 
>>equivalent to the annual energy use of 750,000 
>>U.S. homes. The corresponding savings in 
>>greenhouse gas emissions was 2.1 million tons 
>>of CO2 equivalents, an amount comparable to taking 360,000 cars off the road.
>>
>>(Calculations were based on the tonnage of 
>>postconsumer PET and HDPE recovered in 2008, 
>>and the energy required to collect, sort and 
>>domestically reprocess the tonnage of plastics 
>>containers (including bottles) recovered in 2008.)
>>
>>The new study, “Final Report­Life Cycle 
>>Inventory of 100% Postconsumer HDPE and PET 
>>Recycled Resin from Postconsumer Containers and 
>>Packaging,” conducted by Franklin Associates 
>>Ltd., was jointly sponsored by the American 
>>Chemistry Council (ACC), the Association of 
>>Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR), the 
>>National Association for PET Container 
>>Resources (NAPCOR) and the PET Resin Association (PETRA).
>>

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