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A Review of Life Cycle Assessment Studies in Plastic Waste Management

  • Conference paper
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Frontiers of Energy and Environmental Engineering (CFEEE 2023 2023)

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Engineering ((ESE))

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Abstract

The world is facing socio-economic, environmental, and health challenges because of plastic pollution. Therefore, it is critical to ensure that selected treatment methods used in plastic waste management do not create unforeseen environmental challenges that add to the burden of the plastic waste problem. This study aims to determine the volume of literature (academic and grey literature) published thus far on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of plastic waste management (PWM) methods and assess their geographical scope, evaluated processes and software and characterisation methods that can be used in LCA studies. This was done by conducting a sco** review which yielded 45 studies for literature synthesis. Results show that gaps in LCA studies involving PWM still exist in Africa and other regions except for Europe and, to a lesser extent, Asia. Further, most authors agree that mechanical recycling benefits the environment under certain conditions. Therefore, it should be promoted while simultaneously working towards finding other complementary methods, such as chemical recycling.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the University of Johannesburg and Botswana International University of Science and Technology for supporting the work and conference participation. The work is part of a PhD thesis by Zvanaka Mazhandu, 2022 (University of Johannesburg, South Africa), which assesses the environmental impacts of various developed plastic waste management scenarios using Life Cycle Assessment under the supervision of Prof. Edison Muzenda, Prof Mohamed Belaid and Dr. Trust Nhubu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering Technology, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Zvanaka S. Mazhandu, Edison Muzenda, Mohamed Belaid & Trust Nhubu

  2. Department of Chemical, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, Botswana International University of Science and Technology, Palapye, Botswana

    Edison Muzenda

  3. Department of Quality and Operations Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Charles Mbohwa

Authors
  1. Zvanaka S. Mazhandu
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  2. Edison Muzenda
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  3. Mohamed Belaid
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  4. Trust Nhubu
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  5. Charles Mbohwa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zvanaka S. Mazhandu .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Fushuan Wen

  2. South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

    Jizhong Zhu

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Mazhandu, Z.S., Muzenda, E., Belaid, M., Nhubu, T., Mbohwa, C. (2024). A Review of Life Cycle Assessment Studies in Plastic Waste Management. In: Wen, F., Zhu, J. (eds) Frontiers of Energy and Environmental Engineering. CFEEE 2023 2023. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-0372-2_56

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