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[Display omitted] • The deposit-refund system enables the bottle-to-bottle high value recycling of PET. • High value recycling reduces GHG emissions and comprehensive environmental impact. • Reducing energy consumption and increasing yield are important cut-in points. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is a widely used packaging material and has high value in recycling. However, under China's dominant informal recycling system, most PET bottles are downcycled into fibers. The deposit-refund system (DRS) is considered a feasible mechanism to facilitate the high-value recycling of PET bottles. To comparatively evaluate the environmental performance [reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) and pollutant emissions] under different scenarios using life cycle assessments, including the current system based on informal recycling, an improved system with a larger contribution from the source separation of municipal solid waste, and evolving systems with DRS application, five scenarios were set up. The DRS can reduce GHG emissions and the comprehensive environmental impact by 0.538 kg CO 2 /kg PET bottles and 1.73 × 10−3 PE/kg PET bottles, respectively, compared to informal recycling. It can be concluded that the DRS-based recycling approach and the bottle-to-bottle recycling provide the substantial emission reduction potential of GHGs and pollutants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Common points of PET bottle recycling system in developing countries was studied. • A system dynamics model was built to dynamically predict PET bottle flow of China. • Comprehensive performance model of PET recycling system was constructed. • Three policies scenario were developed to regulate the flow of PET bottles of China. • Policy recommendations for regulating PET bottle recycling were proposed. Owing to the convenience and price advantages, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles have been widely used in daily life. This leads to a substantial number of waste PET bottles. Because of the lack of corresponding management policies in developing countries, PET bottles have entered the informal collection and recycling sectors in large quantities, causing serious environmental pollution. In China, how to regulate the formal collection and achieve optimal performance of a PET bottle recycling system with policy implementation methods are still being explored. This study constructs a dynamic recycling system of waste PET bottles for the production-consumption, consumption-collection, and collection-recycling subsystems that regulate the formal recycling of PET bottles through policies. The deposit-refund system, mandatory policy and tax refund system were used as the standard recycling policy in a simulation, and comprehensive performance changes were compared before and after the policy simulation. The results indicate that the comprehensive performance (basic scenario) of the PET bottle recycling system is an average of 5.42 billion CNY. With the policy mix scenario, it reached to 6.51 billion CNY, and the formal collection rate increased to 55.8%. Compared with the basic scenario, the comprehensive performance of the policy mix scheme increased by 20%, which is beneficial to the operations of the formal collection and recycling sectors and increases the production vitality of the formal PET recycling industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are discarded daily after usage. Thus, plastic bottle recycling has elicited considerable attention in recent years. In this context, this study aims to quantify the environmental and economic impacts of blanket production from 100% recycled waste plastic bottles in China through a life cycle assessment coupled with life cycle costing method. In addition, the environmental impact of replacing coal with natural gas and solar energy was evaluated. Results show that impact categories of global warming and fossil depletion have significant influence on the overall environment. Carbon dioxide, water, iron, coal and chromium (VI) to water are the main contributors to the overall environmental burden. The internal and external costs are $6433/metric ton and $370/metric ton, respectively. Analysis results indicate that the optimization of organic chemicals, recycled polyester filament and steam production processes can reduce environmental and economic burdens substantially. Energy substitutions with natural gas and the use of solar photovoltaic in steam production and electricity generation are effective measures for decreasing environmental impacts. Finally, suggestions based on research results and the current status of waste plastic bottle recycling in China are proposed. Image 1 • Environmental and economic impacts in recycled blanket production were evaluated. • Organic chemicals consumption was the key to environmental and economic burdens. • Global warming and fossil depletion were the most remarkable categories. • Replacing coal with natural gas and PV showed considerable environmental benefits. • Bottle flake production and water use efficiency could be further improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]