Life cycle assessment of expanded polystyrene

Abstract

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is one of the most common materials used in packaging. In Malaysia, EPS is a type of plastic which is not in the recycling category. Usually, EPS wastes will end up in landfill and incinerator, leading to severe environmental impacts. Therefore, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) study of EPS was carried out to investigate the potential environmental impacts of EPS. The most significant potential environmental impact will also be identified. Both will be identified under 2 different scenarios. The study was analyzed using GaBi Education Software with the method of TRACI 2.1 to the environmental indicators of global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), and ozone depletion potential (ODP). In scenario 1, the emission percentage for GWP, AP, EP, and ODP are 99.73 %, 0.21 %, 0.06 %, and 3x10-6 %, respectively. As for scenario 2, all the 3 conditions show similar trend with scenario 1. The LCA study of EPS is particularly focused on the manufacturing, distribution, and the end-of-lifetime treatments, with the introduction of recycling into the system. The findings show that manufacturing of EPS is the major contributor of the environmental impacts and GWP contributes to the most significant potential environmental impacts. Overall, recycling was found to have the least impact to the environment, which possibly be used as the new end-of-lifetime treatment of EPS in Malaysia.