There are very few studies of the Carbon Footprint of Products (CFPs) in the service sector (e.g. transport and waste treatment) in comparison with those of industrial products and farm products. In this study, the CFPs of the recycling services of used beverage cans (aluminum and steel) and waste papers (cardboard, magazine and newspaper) in waste treatment were estimated as a first trial model of the service sector. Regarding the CFPs of whole life cycle of the recycling services, the amounts of CO 2-equivalent (CO 2e) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the collection and transportation process were the largest in all recycling cases. The reason that the collection and transportation process emits the largest amounts of GHG emissions is that the collection vehicles (trucks) consume the large amounts of diesel fuel. Regarding the CFPs of the capital equipment, the amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment were the second largest in all recycling cases. It was found that the percentages of amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment in the recycling services were larger than those of industrial products and farm products.
The recent substantial rise in global atmospheric CO2 concentration and the ensuing greenhouse effect is considered to be caused mainly by consumption of large amount of fossil fuels due to increased human activities. On the other hand, in order to reduce greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, the “Carbon Footprint of Products scheme (CFP scheme)” had been promoted as one of the visualization measures of GHG emissions by the national pilot project (The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and related ministries in Japan [
In this study, the authors have been participating in the aforementioned schemes and developed and revised the Product Category Rule (PCR) for the waste treatment service [
1) Collection and Transportation
The used beverage cans (aluminum cans and steel cans) and the waste papers (cardboard, magazine and newspaper) in the stock yards of companies and municipalities are collected and transported to the recycling service company by the collection vehicles.
2) Sorting
The collected cans (the mixture of aluminum cans and steel cans) are sorted by the permanent magnet of sorting machine in the recycling service company.
Regarding the waste papers, the collected waste papers are without the sorting process because those have been already sorted before the transportation.
3) Compressing and Baling
The sorted cans and papers are compressed and baled (as baled materials) by each machine. Regarding the baling for papers, the papers are bailed by the steel wire.
1) Collection and Transportation
• Collection vehicle:
Truck type: Cargo truck (Flat body truck and Garbage truck)
Maximum loading capacity: 2 ton
Fuel type: Diesel.
2) Sorting for aluminum cans and steel cans
• Sorting machine:
Sorting method: Permanent magnet
Carrying system: Belt conveyor system (by electric motor drive)
Motor power: total 2.7 kW.
3) Compressing and Baling
• Compressing machine for aluminum cans and steel cans:
Compression method: Oil hydraulic press (by electric motor drive)
Motor power: 2.2 kW
• Compressing and baling machine for cardboard, magazine and newspaper:
Compression method: Oil hydraulic press (by electric motor drive)
Motor power: total 41 kW.
The system boundary for the recycling services includes the three unit processes: 1) collection and transportation, 2) sorting, and 3) compressing and baling), as shown in
Can and Paper | Baled size: W × D × H (mm) | Weight (kg) |
---|---|---|
Aluminum | 500 × 300 × 150 | 7 |
Steel | 500 × 300 × 150 | 13 |
Cardboard | 920 × 1485 × 1000 | 800 |
Magazine | 920 × 1400 × 1000 | 700 |
Newspaper | 920 × 1700 × 1000 | 800 |
and the baling process in this study is the end of system boundary in whole life cycle of the product system on the aforementioned basic rules [
The calculation method in this study was based on the rules of “Requirements for CFP-PCR” [
where i stands for a process.
“Activity”, that is to be multiplied by GHG emission factor, e.g. the amounts of material consumption (unit: kg or ton), electricity consumption (unit: kWh) and fuel consumption (unit: kg or liter) for production and transportation processes, etc. Each GHG emission factor was based on rules and requirements of the CFP Communication Program [
In this study, the each GHG emission per kilogram-baled material (unit: g- CO2e/kg-baled material) was calculated as the functional unit in each process, and the data collecting time of the inputs in each process is one year.
Regarding the estimation of the amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment (e.g. collection vehicles, sorting machine, compressing machine and baling machine), the calculation method was based on the scenario of aforementioned PCR [
Regarding the allocation of the amount of GHG emission from the capital equipment, the amounts of fuel consumptions of collection vehicles, electricity consumptions of sorting machine and compressing and baling machine were allocated by the weight of each baled material.
Regarding the difference of the amounts of GHG emissions of cans and papers in the collection and transportation process, the amounts of GHG emissions of the baled cans are approximately 1.5 - 2.1 times as large as in comparison with those of papers. This is due to the difference of transport efficiency of cans and papers (i.e., the papers usually have been already sorted and packed, and the bulk densities of papers are higher than those of cans).
Recycling process | Can | Paper | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aluminum | Steel | Cardboard | Magazine | Newspaper | |
g-CO2e/kg-baled material | |||||
Collection and Transportation | 61.3 | 69.2 | 32.7 | 32.9 | 40.2 |
Sorting | 2.1 | 2.1 | - | - | - |
Compressing and Baling | 2.5 | 2.5 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Total | 65.9 | 73.8 | 36.7 | 36.9 | 44.2 |
Capital equipment | Can | Paper | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aluminum | Steel | Cardboard | Magazine | Newspaper | |
g-CO2e/kg-baled material | |||||
Collection vehicle | 7.8 | 9.0 | 5.2 | 6.0 | 8.6 |
Sorting machine | 1.5 | 1.5 | - | - | - |
Compressing and Baling machine | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
Total | 10.0 | 11.2 | 6.3 | 7.1 | 9.7 |
sorting process and the compressing and baling process accounted for approximately 13% - 15% (excluding the amounts of GHG emissions of papers) and 7% - 17% of the total amounts of GHG emissions, respectively.
Regarding the amounts of GHG emissions from the trucks as the collection vehicles in the capital equipment were largest, this is because the trucks require various raw materials, parts and manufacturing processes in comparison with those of the sorting machine and compressing and baling machines, and the amounts of GHG emissions from the manufacturing processes are larger than those of raw materials of the total amounts of GHG emissions from the collection vehicles and accounted for approximately 55% of the total amounts of GHG emissions from the collection vehicles.
Regarding the amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment, the amounts of those GHG emissions have not been taken into account as the subject of calculation for industrial products and farm products because the amounts of those GHG emissions for various industrial products do not have a significant impact on a result of the total amounts of GHG emissions in general (i.e. the CFPs of capital equipment of industrial products and farm products are almost negligibly small.). However, it was found that the amounts of those GHG emissions in the recycling services had a large impact on a result of the total amounts of GHG emissions in this calculation.
In this study, the CFPs of the recycling services of the used beverage cans and papers in waste treatment were estimated as a first trial model of the service sec-
Process and Capital equipment | Can | Paper | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aluminum | Steel | Cardboard | Magazine | Newspaper | |
g-CO2e/kg-baled material | |||||
Collection and Transportation | 61.3 | 69.2 | 32.7 | 32.9 | 40.2 |
Sorting, Compressing and Baling | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Capital equipment | 10.0 | 11.2 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 9.7 |
Total | 75.9 | 85.0 | 42.9 | 44.0 | 53.9 |
tor. Furthermore, the CFPs of the capital equipment in the recycling services were estimated as one of LCA study, and the total CFPs of baled metals (aluminum and steel) for aluminum cans and steel cans and baled papers (cardboard, magazine and newspaper) were estimated as the CFPs of the recycling services throughout whole life cycle. The following conclusions were obtained from the results in this study:
Regarding the CFPs of whole life cycle of the recycling services, the amounts of GHG emissions from the collection and transportation process were the largest and accounted for approximately 75% - 81% (32.7 - 69.2 g-CO2e/kg-baled material) of the total amounts of GHG emissions (42.9 - 85.0 g-CO2e/kg-baled material) in all recycling cases. Therefore, this estimation indicates that the improvements of the transportation efficiency (e.g. optimization of collection route and compressing of cans in the stock yards before the collection and transportation process) and the fuel efficiency are essential to reduce the amounts of GHG emissions in the collection and transportation process.
Regarding the CFPs of the capital equipment as one of LCA study, the amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment accounted for approximately 13% - 18% (6.2 - 11.2 g-CO2e/kg-baled material) of the total amounts of GHG emissions in all recycling cases. It was found that the percentages of amounts of GHG emissions from the capital equipment in the recycling services were larger than those of industrial products and farm products.
This work was supported and sponsored by the Japanese national government (METI) and the relevant organizations. The authors are deeply grateful to METI and the relevant organizations for the contributions.
Sakamoto, Y., Ishii, Z., Sato, S. and Yoshida, E. (2017) Carbon Footprint of Recycling Service in Waste Treatment: Used Beverage Cans and Waste Papers. Natural Resources, 8, 583- 591. https://doi.org/10.4236/nr.2017.89037