Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and
other impacts from recycling activities:
a case study in Thailand
Nirmala Menikpura
Institute of Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
General Background of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)
Management in Thailand
•In 2009 the volume of garbage in Thailand was approximately
41,410 tonnes per day
•Only 23% generated waste is separated and sent to recycling
centers
•The remaining fraction is disposed at open dumps and nonengineered landfills
•Promotion of recycling activates in Thailand is crucial in order
to minimize the severity of waste problem
2
Life Cycle Effects of Recycling Activities
•All processes are required significant amount of energy and
materials and result in environmental impacts due to consumption of
resources, emissions
Energy,
materials
Collection of
recyclables
Avoided Energy,
materials
Avoided
Emissions
Emissions
e.g: GHG
Recovery of materials
and avoided virgin
production chains
Energy,
materials
Pre-processing : cutting,
cleaning, baling
Emissions
e.g: GHG
Recycling process
Emissions
e.g: GHG
Energy,
materials
Transportation to the
recycling facility )
Emissions
e.g: GHG
Energy,
materials
3
Recycling as an option to replace virgin production
•Considerable amount of materials can be recovered from recycling
and therefore virgin production of materials can be avoided
Recycling as an option to replace virgin production
Recycling as an option to replace virgin production
Quantification of the effects of recycling -A Case Study in
Nonthaburi
• Nonthaburi municipality was selected to evaluate the implications
of recycling activities on the sustainability which is located 20 km
northwest of Bangkok
• The Municipality covers an area of 39 km2 hosting a population of
0.27 million
• Nonthaburi municipality is making an effort to maximizing
recycling and minimizing waste generation
• Public participation and awareness raising campaigns were
recognised as key factors for such successful achievements as well
as the strong political will of the local administration
• MSW generation is 370 tonnes per day and approximately 90
tonnes of recyclables separated at the household level and sent to
the recycling facilities
7
LCA Framework for assessment
•LCA was used as the basic tool to evaluate the environmental,
economic and social impacts
•Quantification was done for “recycling of one tonne of waste in a
recyclable mix”
Data Collection for Sustainability Assessment
•Basic data on material and energy consumptions, costs and revenues,
employment opportunities etc were collected from various sorting
plants and recycling facilities in Thailand
Indicators for sustainability assessment of recycling
9
Composition of recyclables and material recovery rate
The composition of the recyclable mix and material recovery
rate of the different materials are important factors to assess the
amount of materials that can be recovered from recycling
Paper
23%
l
St
ee
Al
um
in
iu
m
ss
G
la
as
t
ic
0
Pl
Aluminium
27%
400
200
pe
r
Glass
7%
Amount of recovered material
1200
1000
800
600
Pa
Plastic
3%
Amount (kg)
Steel
40%
Amount of recycled waste
Composition of recyclables
mix in Nonthaburi
(weight basis)
Recovery rate of recyclables
10
GHG emissions from recycling
•GHG emissions from virgin production is significantly higher
than recycling except plastics recycling
•Benefit of aluminium recycling is outstanding in GHG
mitigation
Virgin Production
12,000
Landfilling
Net balance
Net GHG emissions =
-4,520 kg CO2-eq/tonne of
mixed recyclables
7,000
+ values=GHG emissions
mi
x
bl e
St
ee
l
ini
um
Gl
as
s
Re
cy
cla
-13,000
Al
um
-8,000
Pla
-3,000
sti
c
2,000
Pa
pe
r
GHG emissions (kg of CO2-eq/tonne)
Recycling
- values=GHG avoidance
Net GHG emissions = GHG emissions from recycling –GWP virgin production-GHG emissions from
landfilling of recyclables
11
Abiotic (fossil) Resource Depletion Potential from
Recycling
Recycling
Virgin production
80
60
mi
x
le
s
Re
cy
cla
b
Gl
as
ee
l
St
m
iu
as
tic
in
m
Al
u
-60
-80
+ values= resources
consumption
-21.3kg Sb-eq/tonne of waste
Pl
40
20
0
-20
-40
Net impact
Net resource depletion =
Pa
pe
r
Resource depletion
(kg Sb-eq/tonne of waste)
•Contribution of recycling on saving abiotic resources are remarkable as
compared to the virgin production processes
•Recycling contribute for saving aboitic/fossil resources that would
otherwise be occurred through virgin production process chains
- Values = resources
saving
Types of recyclables
12
Economic Feasibility of Recycling
Gross Life Cycle Cost = Capital Cost + Operational and Maintenance
Costs + Environmental Cost
Net LCC = Gross LCC – Revenues from valuable by-products
Gross LCC
Revenue
+ values = Cost
90,000
Cost & revenue (baht/tonne).
Net LCC
70,000
50,000
Net LCC = -11,700
baht/tonne
30,000
(31Baht =1US$)
10,000
-10,000
-30,000
- Values = Revenue
Type of recyclables
•Net earnings from the daily amount of recyclable (90 tonnes)
generated in Nonthaburi municipality is 1.02 million baht
13
Social Impacts of Recycling
Recycling
Virgin production
Damage to human health
(DALYs/tonne)
0.0280
Net impact from recycling
+ values =
Health risk
Damage to human health =
Mortality (YOLL)+
Sever Morbidity (YLD)+
0.0180
Morbidity (YLD)
0.0080
-0.0020
Net damage = Health damage avoidance
-0.0120
0.0093DALYs/tonne of mixed recyclables
-0.0220
-0.0320
Processes
-ve values = Health
damage avoidance
14
Social Impacts of Recycling Activities
1. Income generation potential from selling of recyclables
in Nonthaburi
type of
waste
Paper
Plastic
Glass
Aluminium
Metal
Total
Collected
amount
(tonnes/day)
20.63
2.96
6.58
23.93
35.90
90.00
Recyclables
category
Income Price
Weight
(tones/day)
(baht) /kg
Total price (Baht)
Office paper
1.02
7.00
7,131.75
Newsprint
5.26
5.00
26,319.55
Laminated paper
8.11
3.00
24,324.36
Kraft paper
4.92
5.00
24,621.51
Milk carton
1.32
6.00
7,895.86
PP
0.77
1.00
766.33
PET
0.13
13.00
1,704.79
PVC
0.20
10.00
1,967.06
PS
0.06
1.00
57.37
Foam(EPS)
0.11
1.00
114.75
HDPE
1.46
10.00
14,630.02
LDPE
0.23
10.00
2,294.90
Clear glass
2.49
0.80
1,994.80
Amber
3.96
0.50
1,978.05
Green
0.13
0.50
64.43
Aluminium
23.93
45.00
1,076,969.36
Metal
35.90
10.50
376,939.27
90.00
1,569,774.16
Tot
al e
mp
lo
rec
pla
nt
gp
nt o
pp .
..
ng
pla
nt
ym
e
y cli
...
aln
t
ecy
clin
g
rec
ycli
n
iniu
mr
St e
el
Alu
m
Gla
ss
ling
clin
gp
lan
t
cyc
ecy
er r
e
ility
lab
l es
f ac
cyc
So r
tin g
ctin
g re
Pla
stic
r
Pap
Co l
le
Employment oppotunity (labours
requirement/tonne)
2. Potential Employment Opportunities
•Total created employment opportunities from 90 tonnes of recyclables - 675
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Employment
opportunities created –
7 labours /tonne of mixed
recyclables
Type of facility
17
Improvement of Income Based Community Well-being
•Income generation from selling of mix recyclables -17,440 baht/tonne
•Wages based income generation potential from recycling -2,900baht/tonne
•Total income generation per tonne of mix waste recycling–20,340baht/tonne
•This income would sufficient to cover monthly living cost of 4
individuals
Nonthaburi Municipality is a good example for us to
understand the Environmental, economic and social
effects of recycling on
18
Conclusions
•The evaluation results of this study clearly indicated that the
recycling activities are significantly contribute for GHG emission
mitigation and well as an option to save the fossil resources
•There are important socio-economic benefits from recycling
•Therefore, recycling would contributes to improve sustainability
of the entire waste management system in place
•This research findings would be useful in strengthening law
enforcement, recommending inclusive 3R policy initiatives for
moving towards sustainable MSW management in Thailand
19
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Dr. Nirmala Menikpura
Sustainable Consumption and
Production (SCP) Group
Institute of Global Environmental
Strategies (IGES)
E-mail: menikpura@iges.or.jp