Depletion of natural resources
Figure 15 shows that recycling is more favourable than the other alternatives regarding depletion of natural
resources. The difference is the highest for landfill while the benefits of recycling over pyrolysis are lower,
remaining in the range 0-50%.
Figure 16 illustrates the comparison between incineration with energy recovery and the other alternatives. For the
four cases, pyrolysis appears more advantageous than incineration. On the contrary, landfill is on average worse
than incineration. However, in two cases from study no 3, landfill presents more benefits than incineration. These
cases concern PET and PVC which are assumed to have a lower heating value of 29 and 21 MJ/ton, respectively
compared to heating values above 40 MJ/ton for the other types of plastics analysed in study no 4. As a result,
the energy gain is lower.
Table 29 Relative difference between the impacts from the different end-of-life options vs. recycling for depletion of natural resources for plastics.
A positive value means that recycling is preferable to the other end-of-life option. A negative value means that recycling causes more
environmental impact than the other end-of-life option.
N° case 1[PE] 1[PET] 2[MIX1] 2[MIX2] 2[MIX3] 2[MIX4] 3[PE] 3[PP] 3[PS] 3[PET] 3[PVC] 5[MIX]
Incineration with energy recovery 70% 80% 70% 60% 70% 60% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 60%
Landfill 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Pyrolysis 40% 20% 40% 20%
Studies n°4, 6, 7 and 8 do not include a comparison with recycling for this indicator and thus are not included in this tableRecyclingversus other alternativesTable 30 Relative difference between the impacts from the different end-of-life options vs. incineration with energy recovery for depletion of
natural resources for plastics. A positive value means that incineration is preferable to the other end-of-life option. A negative value means that
incineration causes more environmental impact than the other end-of-life option.
N° case 1[PE] 1[PET] 2[MIX1] 2[MIX2] 2[MIX3] 2[MIX4] 3[PE] 3[PP] 3[PS] 3[PET] 3[PVC] 5[MIX]
Recycling ‐190% ‐430% ‐200% ‐130% ‐200% ‐130% ‐10690%‐6080%‐13490%‐51770%‐4330% ‐40%
Landfill 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 60% 50% 40% ‐80% ‐80%
Pyrolysis ‐80% ‐80% ‐90% ‐90%
Studies n°4, 6, 7 and 8 do not include a comparison with incineration with energy recovery for this indicator and thus are not included in this tableIncineration with energy recovery versus other alternatives