Decomposition analysis of Dutch beverage packaging waste - An analysis of material efficient innovations

摘要

Decreasing the amount of waste that can be allocated to packaging has been prominent on the political agenda in the Netherlands for two decades. in this period, both policy and innovations have influenced the way products are packed and how the resulting waste is managed. The aim of this study is to gain more insight in how individual material management options have led to a change in the amount of final waste in the Netherlands in the period 1986-1999. For this purpose, we use a so-called decomposition analysis, which is widely used in energy studies, and apply this to the case of beverage packaging waste. The analysis shows a decomposition of the final waste in four different packaging materials (carton, glass, metal and plastic) and creates insight in the effects of (1) the change in product consumption, (2) the material substitution, (3) the change in packaging size, (4) the lighter packaging concepts, (5) the product re-use and (6) the material recycling. The main conclusion is that in the period 1986-1999, the largest reductions in final waste production were realized with product re-use and material recycling. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.