Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Waste Management & Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tsiliyannis, C. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tsiliyannis, C. A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

A new rate index for environmental monitoring of combined reuse/recycle packaging systems

Christos A. Tsiliyannis

ANION Environmental Ltd, Athens Greece, anion{at}otenet.gr

It is shown that the conventional recycling rate fails to reflect environmental performance for packaging flows with both recycle and reuse. The reuse rate, the total number of reuse trips and the reuse-lifetime are also shown to be inadequate. A new rate index defined in terms of the total amount of packaging material reaching the consumer is proposed. It reflects immediate improvements in environmental impact according to specific criteria and it reduces to the conventional rate for systems with only recycle. Albeit this shortcut environmental assessment is not entirely comprehensive and does not unveil a full sustainability profile, it may be useful for immediate packaging flow evaluation and policy implementation. For given packaging production technology it reveals a specific maximum level on recycling, below which environmental impacts from processing are limited or reduced, even if production level grows. Cleaner technologies in reprocessing of recycled materials may elevate this maximum level while still limiting or reducing environmental impacts.

Key Words: Packaging • solid waste • recycling • reuse • environmental monitoring • environmental policy • wmr 646-1

Waste Management & Research, Vol. 23, No. 4, 304-313 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0734242X05056757
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?