Environmental and Socioeconomic Impacts of Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) Packaging Management Strategies in the EU

Plastics are a challenge for the circular economy due to their overall low recycling rate and high dependency on primary resources. This study analyzes the EU demand for poly­(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) packaging from 2020 to 2030 and quantifies the potential environmental and societal savings by changing the waste management and consumption patterns compared with business-as-usual practices. The results of the life-cycle assessment and life-cycle costing show that a maximum of 38 Mt of CO2-eq and 34 kt of PM2.5-eq could be saved with a more efficient waste management system and a robust secondary material market while also avoiding 8.3 billion EUR2019 in societal costs (cumulative 2020–2030). However, limiting annual PET consumption growth appears to have a similar profound effect on improving the efficiency of waste management systems: 35 Mt of CO2-eq, 31 kt of PM2.5-eq, and 25 billion MEUR2019 societal costs could be saved, simply by keeping EU consumption of PET constant.塑料因整体回收率偏低、高度依赖原生资源，成为循环经济发展的一大挑战。本研究分析了2020至2030年欧盟对聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（polyethylene terephthalate, PET）包装的需求，并与常规基准情景对比，量化了通过优化废物管理模式与消费行为所能实现的潜在环境与社会效益节约量。生命周期评估与生命周期成本分析结果显示，若构建更高效的废物管理体系与成熟的二次材料市场，最多可减少38百万吨二氧化碳当量（CO₂-eq）、34千吨细颗粒物当量（PM₂.₅-eq）排放，同时累计避免2020至2030年合计83亿2019年欧元的社会成本支出。然而，仅通过维持欧盟PET消费量恒定、限制其年度消费增长，对提升废物管理系统效率也能产生类似显著效果：可减少35百万吨二氧化碳当量、31千吨细颗粒物当量排放，并节约250亿2019年欧元的社会成本。