Inclusion of leakage into life cycle management of products involving plastic as a material choice
type: CreativeWork
description: The accumulation of plastic waste in the natural environment has been a major environmental concern for many decades. However, the environmental impacts associated with leakage are not taken into consideration under current life-cycle based approaches, despite packaging being a major application area of life cycle assessment. Furthermore, there is limited quantitative information on the leakage propensities and rates of different products. This presents a critical limitation during the life cycle management (LCM) of products destined for regions where they are likely to be dumped or littered. This thesis investigates the feasibility and influence of using product specific leakage rates as a proxy indicator for potential marine environmental impacts, to inform the life cycle management of products in which plastic is a material choice. In particular, it explores whether a realistic understanding of leakage rates, differentiated by major use, may facilitate the development of effective interventions to mitigate the growing problem of marine plastic pollution. This entails the quantification of leakage rates for selected plastic items identified as highly prone to leakage based on a series of beach surveys. The potential influence of providing such specific knowledge is investigated via the exploration of current LCM practices for plastic products employed by key value-chain actors in the plastics industry. In addition, the life cycle management of three key items identified as problematic (straws, cotton bud sticks and beverage bottle lids) is explored via a case study approach. Beach accumulation surveys are often used to estimate plastic flows into the marine environment. Thus, two series of beach surveys were conducted across five beaches with varying catchment area characteristics in Cape Town, over two periods in 2017 and 2018 – 2019 respectively. Daily accumulation rates varied across all sites ranging from 38 – 2962 items.day-1 .100m-1 during the first sampling…
abstract: The accumulation of plastic waste in the natural environment has been a major environmental concern for many decades. However, the environmental impacts associated with leakage are not taken into consideration under current life-cycle based approaches, despite packaging being a major application area of life cycle assessment. Furthermore, there is limited quantitative information on the leakage propensities and rates of different products. This presents a critical limitation during the life cycle management (LCM) of products destined for regions where they are likely to be dumped or littered. This thesis investigates the feasibility and influence of using product specific leakage rates as a proxy indicator for potential marine environmental impacts, to inform the life cycle management of products in which plastic is a material choice. In particular, it explores whether a realistic understanding of leakage rates, differentiated by major use, may facilitate the development of effective interventions to mitigate the growing problem of marine plastic pollution. This entails the quantification of leakage rates for selected plastic items identified as highly prone to leakage based on a series of beach surveys. The potential influence of providing such specific knowledge is investigated via the exploration of current LCM practices for plastic products employed by key value-chain actors in the plastics industry. In addition, the life cycle management of three key items identified as problematic (straws, cotton bud sticks and beverage bottle lids) is explored via a case study approach. Beach accumulation surveys are often used to estimate plastic flows into the marine environment. Thus, two series of beach surveys were conducted across five beaches with varying catchment area characteristics in Cape Town, over two periods in 2017 and 2018 – 2019 respectively. Daily accumulation rates varied across all sites ranging from 38 – 2962 items.day-1 .100m-1 during the first sampling…
author: Chitaka, Takunda Yeukai
keywords: Environmental and Process Systems Engineering
date published: 2020
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:22:46Z
provider: University of Cape Town
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Department of Chemical Engineering

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32574