This report summaries three different activities performed during the SirkuærPlast project. Life cycle costing (LCC) in SirkulærPlast
This section outlines the application of life cycle costing (LCC) principles. A general background to LCC is followed by a summary of how LCC is applicable in the SirkulærPlast context, followed by a summary of the outcomes within the project. Potential broader effects of the project, Scaling
The project as a whole has realised a reduction in demand for virgin plastic for some product applications. This part of the report assesses the potential effects of the project were the outcomes applied at a broader regional or national scale. If the gains achieved in the SirkulærPlast project were
applied to all plastic product producers in Norway, then this could achieve a 3-5% reduction in plastic use nationwide.
A 3% nationwide reduction corresponds to around 10 000 tonnes of plastic and hence 30 000 tonnes CO2-equivalents, also 800 TJ of energy. Norway’s total CO2 emissions for all activities are around 50 million tonnes per annum and the total energy consumption is around 328 TWh or 1.2×1018 J.
This means that the project outcomes afford the possibility of reducing Norwegian national CO2 emissions by around 0.6% and total energy consumption by around 0.07%.
REACH Assessment
In order to be able to assess the toxic effects in an LCA perspective, the input data needs to include information about the raw materials and chemical compositions of the relevant additives. This was not possible to obtain due to confidentiality and competition aspects associated with additives for plastics, as well as reluctance to disclose potential environmental hazards, which limits access to this kind of information. However, under REACH all additive suppliers are required to provide a safety data sheet that provides the users with information about potential hazards and remediation measures. These datasheets were used to obtain information about hazard labelling (relevant for REACH) and safety
precautions advised for each of the additives assessed.
