A new study is set to show how optimised sorting of plastic packaging can help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 

According to a report in Euwid, researchers at the IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute have shown how reductions can be achieved with their comparative life cycle assessment ‘Comparing high-quality recycling and downcycling of plastics’. The more precisely the plastic packaging would be separated according to its specific properties, the more efficiently it can be recycled. High-quality recycling performs significantly better in terms of its environmental impact than low-quality recycling or incineration alone. This has been clearly demonstrated by the analyses of different treatment methods that they carried out together with the consulting firm Terra and Svensk Plaståtervinning. Three different scenarios were considered: incineration with energy recovery, the so called ‘downcycling to railway sleepers’, and, thirdly, advanced sorting. The latter scenario is reportedly based on real data from the Swedish plastic sorting plant Site Zero in Motala, which, according to Svensk Plaståtervinning, is said to be the world's largest and most modern sorting plant for plastic packaging. Chemical recycling, which could be used to supplement mechanical recycling, was not considered in the study. The study found that downcycling reduces the climate impact by four per cent compared to incineration alone, while high-quality recycling based on modern sorting achieves a reduction of 27 per cent. ‘The longer the quality of the plastic is maintained through advanced sorting, the lower the emissions,’ said Tomas Ekvall of Terra, lead author of the study, according to Euwid.
 
Sources:

• Euwid Recycling und Entsorgung 8/2025 (18.2.2025)
• Photo: © Svensk Plaståtervinning