Sustainable End-of-Life Options for Plastics in New Zealand

4.3.3 Cons
One of the main economic ‘cons’ is the capital cost in setting up energy recovery facilities; especially
the process of running pilot plant trials and establishing facilities for the first time in a country. Again,
like economies of scale, the more plants and availability of facilities/material, the more economically
viable the capital investment can be. New Zealand is different to most other countries, for example in
Europe, where there are integrated systems such as water-pipe heating networks that have the ability
to utilise energy from recovery facilities. Also through legislation and regulations, countries like Japan
have requirements that at least 20% of incinerated waste must be plastic.
There is also speculation and concern over the introduction of energy recovery into NZ, due to the
potential environmental affects on air, water and land. The combustion of plastics can release a
number of substances into the surrounding atmosphere, including toxic substances such as dioxins.
PVC is not recommended for combustion due to the proportion of chlorine it contains, which is highly
corrosive and can form dioxins. The use of other materials such as ABS is also discouraged. The
combination of constituents released upon combustion depends on the pressure and temperature at
which the material is incinerated.. (International energy-recovery plant operations would need to be
investigated thoroughly.)
The other downside of energy recovery is the fact that it does not take advantage of the ‘recyclability’
of plastics because the material changes state. This means that the emphasis on ‘closing of the loop’
in the product life cycle by recycling is lost. However, energy recovery is considered to be a better
outcome than disposal to landfill. Factors such as transportation issues over high-volume-to-weightratio
material, locations of energy recovery plants, separation procedures, and the costs involved in
collecting the material; could result in a net cost rather than a benefit. Methods of recovery have to
be identified, in terms of whether or not they would be economically, environmentally and socially
beneficial and feasible.
4.3.4 Recovery Practices in Europe
During 2003, 8.25 million tonnes 30 of plastic were recovered in Western Europe, 39% of the total
amount consumed. A breakdown of this recovered material was as follows:
• 4.1% of the material (338,250t) was recycled through feedstock in-house recycling during
manufacturing
• 4.9% was through material exported outside of Europe, (mainly to Asia) for mechanical recycling
• 33.3% was mechanically recycled in Europe, and
• overall, 57.7% (4,760,250t) was used for energy recovery, making it the most common end-of-life
route for recovered plastics.
Needless to say, recycling is still a strong and innovative industry, as well as a major contributor in
reaching the EU recovery targets (see Figure 21).
30. Source: PlasticsEurope, An analysis of plastics consumption and recovery in Europe, 2004
33 Sustainable End-of-Life Options for Plastics in New Zealand