Technical and market substitutability of recycled materials: Calculating the environmental benefits of mechanical and chemical recycling of plastic packaging waste.

Most plastics are today mechanically recycled (MR), whereas chemical recycling (CR) is an emerging technology. Substitutability of virgin material is vital for their environmental performance assessed through life cycle assessment (LCA). MR faces the reduction in the material's technical quality but also the potential market because legal safety requirements currently eliminate applications such as food packaging.

Life cycle assessment of carrier bags and development of a littering indicator.

Increased plastic consumption has resulted in high amounts of plastic waste ending up in the environment. Recently, the European Commission (EC) has identified a list of single-use plastics, including plastic bags, most commonly found in the European beaches. As a response, alternatives for plastic carrier bags have been more of a concern.

Are functional fillers improving environmental behavior of plastics? A review on LCA studies.

The use of functional fillers can be advantageous in terms of cost reduction and improved properties in plastics. There are many types of fillers used in industry, organic and inorganic, with a wide application area. As a response to the growing concerns about environmental damage that plastics cause, recently fillers have started to be considered as a way to reduce it by decreasing the need for petrochemical resources.