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Congrès International sur l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie Lille, Novembre 2011
Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of publicity products produced with recycled
plastic
Nicolas BARRET*,**, Maxime BULTEAU**, Ion Cosmin GRUESCU*
*Université Lille 1 - Sciences et Technologies, IUT "A", Dép. GMP,
Rue de la Recherche, BP 90179, 59653, Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex
**Madeinbio, 102 rue de Lannoy 59650 Villeneuve d'Ascq
nico.barret@gmail.com, max@cotton-blue.com, ion-cosmin.gruescu@univ-lille1.fr
Keywords: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Recycled plastics, Environmental Impact
Abstract:
The present study is dedicated to the presentation and to the interpretation of some results
obtained by applying the Life Cycle assessment methodology to a product realized within recycled plastics
(the bottle-opener). The product is fabricated in France and commercialized to be used for communication
proposals. The main objective of the study is to evaluate the environmental consequences of the
production and of the commercialization of this product by accounting its major lifecycle steps. Some
comparison elements with respect to a more classical production and distribution (production in China from
virgin, non-recycled plastics) are equally presented. Both products present identical functionality
characteristics, only the weight of the product realized with normal plastics being of 20% superior to the
one of the recycled plastics obtained product.
Introduction
The problematic of waste management and the utilisation of recycled plastics occupies an
important place in the design of products with a reduced environmental footprint. This major topic
preoccupies the industrial actors in the very restrictive statutory, technological and economical context [1].
- Eco-design and Life Cycle Assessment of the bottle-opener
The main environmental footprint of plastics is the raw material consumption. In order to reduce it
2 options are possible: (i) use less impacting raw materials and (ii) recycling the products. It's the first
solution that was adopted for the realization of the studied products.
The "bottle opener"
The chosen product must respect sustainability principles, respectively:
use only one raw material (polyethylene terephtalate - PET) and reduce its transport.
optimized weight with respect to classical products
fabrication in France, in order to reduce the transport impact
Obtained results
The product was modeled in "close circuit", which means that in the end of life step the plastic is
recycled and re-used to fabricate a similar product. The main life cycle steps considered in this study are
the raw material extraction, the fabrication, the transports and the end-of life. It was shown that the energy
consumption and water eutrophication are the main environmental impacts in the case of the "plasticrecycled”
product (Fig. 1). A comparison with a normal product was also realised.
Conclusion
It was shown in the present study that the use of recycled plastics allows a footprint decrease for
all the analyzed impacts. The local production is also an important factor which contributes to the
diminution of the environmental footprint because of the small transport distances and of the energetically
mixture (nuclear based) in France.
Références
[1] C. A. Nyland, I.S. Modahl, H.L. Raadal, O.J. Hanssen, Application of LCA as a Decision –Making
Tool for Waste Management Systems, Intl. Journal of Life Cycle assessement, 8 (6), 2003, pp 331-
336.
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