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Abstract
The plastics system faces major sustainability challenges. The utilization of fossil feedstock and energy in the production causes emissions of carbon dioxide. Insufficient waste management and recycling result in littering and resource inefficiency. Plastics are likely to continue to be an important material in a fossil free future, however for that a sustainability transition needs to take place. The question is how?
The report describes the current value chains including production, utilization and waste management of plastics as well as the sustainability challenges related to them. This extended summary highlights the most important sustainability challenges and gives some concrete examples of the difficulties and contradictions in achieving a more sustainable plastics system. The report is part of the Mistra funded research programme STEPS – Sustainable Plastics and Transition Pathways. The vision of the programme is to “…facilitate and accelerate transition of the plastic sector to a future society with sustainable production, use and recycling in a circular plastics economy.” Based on that vision, the following questions are asked: What are sustainable plastics? What is the role of plastics in a sustainable society? And what are the key challenges?
Original language | English |
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Publisher | Lund University. Department of Environmental and Energy Systems Studies |
Number of pages | 35 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-91-86961-34-3 |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Subject classification (UKÄ)
- Energy Systems
Keywords
- Plastics
- Renewable
- Sustainability
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Mapping the plastics system and its sustainability challenges'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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STEPS: STEPS – Sustainable Plastics and Transition Pathways, Phase 1
Generosi, J., Hatti-Kaul, R., Pyo, S., Zhang, B., Turner, C., Rodriguez Meizoso, I., Wallberg, O., Hulteberg, C., Diegel, O., Ristinmaa, M., Nilsson, L. J., Palm, E., Ericsson, K., Hansen, T., Klintman, M., Stripple, J., Bauer, F., Madsen, S., Jannasch, P., Egan, N., Nielsen, T., Holmberg, K., Svantesson, A., Hall, S., Mahmoud, S., Englund Örn, O., Mankar, S., Warlin, N., Valsange, N., Sanku, M., Hasselbalch, J., Sjölin, M., Hansen, T., Chen, L., Nordin, A., Engqvist, J., Garcia Gonzalez, N., Newson, W. R., Johansson, E., Kuktaite, R., Muneer, F., Nilsson , E., Guo, Z., Ahlqvist, J. & Peric, S.
MISTRA, Swedish foundation for strategic environmental research
2016/09/01 → 2020/08/31
Project: Research
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