Publication detail

Post-consumer plastic sorting infrastructure improvements planning: Scenario-based modeling of greenhouse gas savings with sustainable costs

PLUSKAL, J. ŠOMPLÁK, R. SZÁSZIOVÁ, L. SUJA, J. PAVLAS, M.

English title

Post-consumer plastic sorting infrastructure improvements planning: Scenario-based modeling of greenhouse gas savings with sustainable costs

Type

journal article in Web of Science

Language

en

Original abstract

With the increasing share of waste material recovery, household plastic waste is one of the biggest problems. In most countries, mainly manual sorting is used. Meanwhile, new automated technologies are being developed to expand the range of classifiable types to increase material recovery. The overall automation of the sorting process can help the EU's established recycling targets to be effectively met. However, the new technologies are feasible only in the case of large-capacity centers, which must be conveniently located in the existing infrastructure. This paper presents a two-stage model aiming to modernize the current sorting infrastructure for plastic waste. The approach uses multi-criteria optimization to minimize environmental impact at a reasonable price. The result is the optimal location of new automatic sorting centers, and waste stream flows using existing manual sorting facilities. The model is applied through an initial case study inspired by the Czech Republic data. Optimization output proposes four new automatic sorting lines with a total capacity of 158 kt per year. In most cases, manual sorting is used to reduce the transported weight of plastic waste, while automatic sorting lines separate the remaining, hardly recognized part. More than 60% of separately collected plastic is sorted and determined for material recovery.

English abstract

With the increasing share of waste material recovery, household plastic waste is one of the biggest problems. In most countries, mainly manual sorting is used. Meanwhile, new automated technologies are being developed to expand the range of classifiable types to increase material recovery. The overall automation of the sorting process can help the EU's established recycling targets to be effectively met. However, the new technologies are feasible only in the case of large-capacity centers, which must be conveniently located in the existing infrastructure. This paper presents a two-stage model aiming to modernize the current sorting infrastructure for plastic waste. The approach uses multi-criteria optimization to minimize environmental impact at a reasonable price. The result is the optimal location of new automatic sorting centers, and waste stream flows using existing manual sorting facilities. The model is applied through an initial case study inspired by the Czech Republic data. Optimization output proposes four new automatic sorting lines with a total capacity of 158 kt per year. In most cases, manual sorting is used to reduce the transported weight of plastic waste, while automatic sorting lines separate the remaining, hardly recognized part. More than 60% of separately collected plastic is sorted and determined for material recovery.

Keywords in English

Waste management; Decision-making support; Plastic recycling; Automatic sorting lines localization; Multi-objective scenario-based optimization; Emission minimization

Released

01.01.2023

Publisher

Elsevier

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

0301-4797

Volume

325

Number

1

Pages from–to

1–11

Pages count

11

BIBTEX


@article{BUT179704,
  author="Jaroslav {Pluskal} and Radovan {Šomplák} and Lenka {Szásziová} and Jerguš {Suja} and Martin {Pavlas},
  title="Post-consumer plastic sorting infrastructure improvements planning: Scenario-based modeling of greenhouse gas savings with sustainable costs",
  year="2023",
  volume="325",
  number="1",
  month="January",
  pages="1--11",
  publisher="Elsevier",
  address="Amsterdam, The Netherlands",
  issn="0301-4797"
}