Complex Consumer Products, their Impacts on End-of-Life Waste Management, and Extended Producer Responsibility

复杂的消费品、其对报废废物管理的影响以及延伸的生产者责任

• 批准号: RGPIN-2014-04740
• 负责人: Tam, Edwin
• 金额: $ 1.46万
• 依托单位: University of Windsor
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=677097
• 关键词: Complex; Consumer; Products; their; Impacts

In 2009, the Canadian Council for Ministers of the Environment (CCME) put forth a Canada wide action plan for extended producer responsibility (EPR) in which the producer's responsibility extends to the post-consumer phase of a product (CCME 2009). Most current EPR programs, however, currently target packaging, print materials, containers, liquids, and other simple products. Even for complex, durable products, such as automobiles, only basic items, such as tires, fluids, and batteries are identified under current EPR initiatives. As a result, much of our waste, especially if coming from complex, durable consumer products, is still being landfilled. More critically, as a sub-category of our overall waste stream, plastic-based products pose one of the greatest challenges to industrial and institutional waste management systems. In Canada in 2008, 324,731 tonnes of plastics were diverted from disposal, but 2.8 million tonnes in comparison were disposed, and plastics have been reported to contribute to human health and environmental impacts. **Effective end-of-life (EoL) management (reduction, reuse, recycling) of plastic goods can not only remove significant amounts of plastics from waste streams, it also produces economic value by returning an otherwise disposed material for reprocessing. But plastics recovery and their recovery methods are typically viewed in "curbside" pickup terms for simple items, such as water bottles or simple packaging shells. For example, the US EPA reports that in 2010, 31M tons of plastic were generated, but only 8% of the total plastics were actually recovered for recycling. Furthermore, almost 11 million tons of plastic was generated as durable goods in the US, such as appliances. Compared to simple goods, complex, durable goods pose significant challenges for recovery. Distinct materials are bonded to each other in more complex configurations, making separation for recovery technologically challenging and expensive. Some of the greatest contributors to plastics waste are waste electronics and end-of-life vehicles (ELVs): the US EPA estimates that only 25% of all discarded electronics in 2009 were even collected for recycling. Lastly, even relatively simple plastic products can be difficult to recover in specialized situations, such as medical waste. Thus, what is potentially recyclable is not always recovered. We propose that alternate pretreatment techniques, separation strategies, and management strategies that use incremental, multi-step approaches can significantly improve plastics recovery. The proposed research will: 1) identify and develop effective approaches to recovering plastics from complex, durable goods; 2) assess how effective waste handling techniques and approaches can complement and promote effective EPR programs; and 3) examine how the outcomes can be applied to new materials, such as carbon fibre, to avoid or at least mitigate future waste handling effects as experienced currently with plastic wastes. To undertake this research, a representative, complex item, such as an automotive car seat will be used as a test item which embodies multiple materials (foams, plastics, metal, fibre) but is often not typically recovered for materials recovery will be used. Furthermore, this research also provides valuable training in research techniques, engineering systems, and management and communication aspects related to waste recovery for multiple highly qualified personnel (HQP) ranging from PhD candidates to undegraduate students in engineering.

2009 年，加拿大环境部长理事会 (CCME) 提出了一项加拿大范围内的生产者延伸责任 (EPR) 行动计划，其中生产者的责任延伸至产品的消费后阶段 (CCME 2009)。然而，当前大多数 EPR 计划目前都针对包装、印刷材料、容器、液体和其他简单产品。即使对于汽车等复杂、耐用的产品，当前的 EPR 计划也仅识别轮胎、液体和电池等基本产品。因此，我们的大部分废物，特别是来自复杂、耐用消费品的废物，仍然被填埋。更重要的是，作为我们整体废物流的一个子类别，塑料产品对工业和机构废物管理系统构成了最大的挑战之一。 2008 年，加拿大有 324,731 吨塑料被转用处理，但相比之下，有 280 万吨塑料被处置，据报道，塑料对人类健康和环境造成影响。 **有效的塑料制品报废 (EoL) 管理（减少、再利用、回收）不仅可以从废物流中去除大量塑料，还可以通过返回原本处置的材料进行再加工来产生经济价值。但塑料回收及其回收方法通常被视为简单物品的“路边”拾取术语，例如水瓶或简单的包装壳。例如，美国环保局报告称，2010年，全球产生了3100万吨塑料，但实际回收利用的仅占塑料总量的8%。此外，美国生产了近 1100 万吨塑料作为耐用品，例如电器。与简单商品相比，复杂、耐用的商品对复苏提出了重大挑战。不同的材料以更复杂的结构相互粘合，使得分离回收在技术上具有挑战性并且成本高昂。塑料废物的最大贡献者是废弃电子产品和报废车辆 (ELV)：美国环保署估计，2009 年所有废弃电子产品中只有 25% 被收集起来进行回收利用。最后，即使是相对简单的塑料产品在特殊情况下也可能难以回收，例如医疗废物。因此，潜在可回收的东西并不总是能被回收。我们建议使用增量、多步骤方法的替代预处理技术、分离策略和管理策略可以显着提高塑料回收率。拟议的研究将：1）确定并开发从复杂耐用商品中回收塑料的有效方法； 2) 评估有效的废物处理技术和方法如何补充和促进有效的 EPR 计划； 3）研究如何将研究结果应用于碳纤维等新材料，以避免或至少减轻目前塑料废物所经历的未来废物处理影响。为了进行这项研究，将使用具有代表性的复杂物品（例如汽车座椅）作为测试物品，该物品包含多种材料（泡沫、塑料、金属、纤维），但通常不会用于材料回收。此外，这项研究还为从博士研究生到工程学本科生的多名高素质人员（HQP）提供了与废物回收相关的研究技术、工程系统以及管理和沟通方面的宝贵培训。