Gate to gate life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and acidification potential in plastic recycling technologies in Nepal

• Mechanical recycling results in lowest GHG and acidification potentials among MPW recycling methods in Nepal. • Chemical recycling possesses highest acidification potential (3360 kg SO₂-eq per ton of MPW). • Use of surplus electricity and electrification reduces GHG emissions by 0.2%–4.6% depending on the recycling process. • Recycling and landfilling are less environmentally damaging than incineration for MPW disposal. Almost all waste management steps produce greenhouse gas (GHG) and other emissions, therefore it is vital to choose the processes with less impacts. In this study, a gate-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) method has been applied to compare the climate change potential and acidification potential of mechanical recycling (MR), chemical recycling (CR) and landfilling (LF) of Municipal Plastic Waste (MPW) for Nepal. The chemical and mechanical recycling are incorporated with Waste to Energy (WTE) conversion for solid waste produced after MPW recycling process. This study has estimated the net GHG impacts of chemical recycling, mechanical recycling and landfilling alongside acidification potentials. The result show that mechanical recycling (-805 kgCO 2 -eq/t MPW) to be least detrimental to the environment when compared with chemical recycling (-544 kgCO 2 -eq/t MPW) and landfilling (114 kgCO 2 -eq/t MPW) due to high energy consumption and process emissions of chemical recycling and landfilling. In terms of energy emission, this study finds that electricity consumption during recycling contributes around 6%-24% of total climate change potentials highlighting the need for use of low carbon intensive (green) electricity for further impact reduction.