Initial Challenges and Approach for Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment in Upcycling of PE and PET

The EU H2020 upPE T project is developing a novel upcycling process for PE and PET to produce terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol for the PHBV production of food and drink packaging. To perform a holistic assessment of sustainability impacts and promoting awareness across the biopl astic value chain, upPE T undertakes Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) of the entire process. However, the assessment is confronted with plethora of challenges. The entire upcycling process is not yet fully established since some innovative biological processes (e.g., utilisation of new bacteria to produce the PHA) are still being experimented while a few processes have not yet started (e.g., PE enzymatic degradation). Therefore, definitive primary data from upPE T processes is scarce while lack o f prior LCSA literature on plastic upcycling prevents obtaining secondary data. upPE T’s ambition is to demonstrate the novel upcycling process at an industrial scale in a pilot plant. Moreover, while PHBV is currentlyutilised on an industrial basis for food packaging, in upPE T, it is obtained from PE, PET degradation in laboratory. Collecting primary data on laboratory scale does not reveal a comprehensive sustainability indicator for an industrial s cale process. Conversely, it is important to employ pri mary data at a laboratory scale in order to conduct an initial LCSA. Despite the ongoing nature of the various processes, this instrument proves to be valuable not only for obtaining results in terms of impact categories and assessing initial environmental impacts, but also for identifying hotspots and implementing actions to mitigate these impacts, such as the reuse of water throughout the processes. In addition to that, a comprehensive analysis encompassing economic and social evaluations is conducted to obtain a holistic understanding of the expenses associated with the entire process and its potential to enhance societal well being.