Flick It or Ship It Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Cigarette Waste Disposal Routes with a Focus on Toxicity Impacts Trisha Montalbo, PE INTERNATIONAL Christoph Koffler, PE INTERNATIONAL Takuma Ono, PE INTERNATIONAL Ernel Simpson, TerraCycle
Cigarette Waste
31 billion 293 billion
2011 SALES
65% littering rate in the US
Challenges and Concerns Marine Debris Animal Ingestion
Fire Hazard Roadside Litter
US CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/ Health Canada, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/tobac-tabac/index-eng.php Keep America Beautiful, http://www.kab.org
9/22/2013
2
Addressing the Problem of Cigarette Waste TerraCycle’s Cigarette Brigade
• Cellulose acetate fibers (from filters) is compounded with recycled polypropylene to produce plastic products • Paper and tobacco are composted to produce fertilizer TerraCycle, http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/cigarette-waste-brigade.html
9/22/2013
3
Evaluate Environmental Costs and Benefits Application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
QUESTION: How does recycling cigarette waste compare to alternative disposal routes?
9/22/2013
APPROACH: Apply LCA framework to quantify environmental performance Emphasize toxicity
4
Life Cycle Assessment Product Systems Under Study
Recycling
Landfill
Scope Incineration
Littering
9/22/2013
5
Defining the LCA Gate-to-Grave System Boundaries Functional unit: The treatment of 1 kg of post-consumer cigarette butts disposed in Canada.
Production and use of cigarette
Transport to disposal / recycling site
Disposal / recycling
Energy / material recovery
Avoided burden
9/22/2013
6
Life Cycle Impact Methodologies TRACI 2.1, PED, and USEtox LCIA Impact Category
Abbrev.
Units
Acidification potential
AP
kg SO2 eq.
Eutrophication potential
EP
kg N eq.
Global warming potential
GWP
kg CO2 eq.
Ozone depletion potential
ODP
kg CFC 11 eq.
Smog formation potential
SFP
kg O3 eq.
Primary energy demand, non-renewable
PED
MJ
Freshwater eco-toxicity potential
ETP
CTUeco
Human toxicity potential, cancer
HTPC
CTUh
Human toxicity potential, non-cancer 9/22/2013
HTPNC
CTU
h Toxic Unit CTU: Comparative
7
Life Cycle Inventory Model Tobacco and Filter Toxins Toxins found in the tobacco (based on literature)
and in the post-consumer filter (measured by TerraCycle)
Selected toxins defined / provided by: • Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 • Food and Drug Administration’s Indirect Food Additives standard • Data collected by Health Canada under the Tobacco Act
9/22/2013
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
Acrolein Ammonia Antimony Arsenic Barium Benzene Benzo(a)pyrene Cadmium Catechol Chromium Cresol DDT Formaldehyde
• • • • • • • • • • • • •
Hydrogen cyanide Hydroquinone Isoprene Lead Mercury Methanol Nicotine NNK Phenol Resorcinol Selenium Styrene …
8
Life Cycle Inventory Model Toxin Capture and Emissions Recycling
Landfill
• Cellulose acetate filter toxins trapped in recycled plastic
• Majority of toxins trapped in landfill
• Tobacco toxins leave system with compost
• Remainder emitted to soil (through leachate) or to wastewater
Incineration
Unmanaged Waste (litter)
• Organic toxins combusted
• Scenario 1: Emitted to soil
• Inorganic toxins emitted to atmosphere and/or scrubbed from flue gas
• Scenario 2: Emitted to water
9/22/2013
9
LCIA Results: Recycling Acidification Eutrophication Global Warming Ozone Depletion Smog Formation PED, Non-Renewable Freshwater Eco-toxicity Human Toxicity, Cancer Human Toxicity, Non-Cancer -40% -20% Reprocessing
Mfg. waste
0%
Compost
20%
40%
Transport
60%
80% 100%
Avoided burden
• Impact dominated by transport and packaging of cigarette waste • Credit from the avoided burden of fertilizer and recycled polypropylene production
9/22/2013
10
Primary Energy Demand, Non-Renewable Disposal System Impact Comparison
Unmanaged waste not associated with energy consumption
Unmanaged Waste Incineration Landfill Recycling 0
9/22/2013
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Global Warming Potential [kg CO2 eq.]
3.5
11
Understanding Toxicity: USEtox™ Model 1)
Identify which toxins drive impact
2)
Compare toxicity performance
Obtain characterization factors from the USEtox model
• Represents improvement over other toxicity models • More appropriate for organic toxins than for inorganic toxins (e.g., heavy metals)
• Account for imprecision of characterization factors in interpretation • Human toxicity factors: Precision within 100 – 1,000 of other models • Eco-toxicity factors: Precision within 10 – 100 of other models
9/22/2013
12
Freshwater Eco-Toxicity Potential Contributing Toxins Landfill / Recycling
Unmanaged Waste (soil)
Other
Mercury (soil)
Nicotine (water)
Other
Selenium (soil)
Nicotine (soil)
Barium (soil)
Arsenic (soil)
Incineration Copper (air)
Unmanaged Waste (water) Other Arsenic (water)
Selenium (air)
Barium (water) Mercury (air)
9/22/2013
Selenium Other (water)
Nicotine (water)
13
Freshwater Eco-toxicity Potential Disposal System Impact Comparison
Unmanaged Waste
Soil
Water
Incineration Landfill Recycling 0.01
9/22/2013
0.1 1 10 Freshwater Eco-toxicity Potential [CTUeco]
100
14
Human Toxicity Potential, Cancer Contributing Toxins Landfill / Recycling
Unmanaged Waste (soil) Other
Pyridine (soil) Other NNK Vinyl (water) chloride (air) Pyridine Mercury (water) (air)
Incineration
Mercury (soil)
Unmanaged Waste (water) Other
Pyridine Other NNK (water) (water) Mercury (water)
Mercury (air)
9/22/2013
Nicotine (water)
15
Human Toxicity Potential, Cancer Disposal System Impact Comparison
Water
Unmanaged Waste
Soil
Incineration Landfill Recycling 0.01
0.1
1
10
100
1,000
10,000
Human Toxicity Potential, Cancer [Ă—10-9 CTUh]
9/22/2013
16
Summary Interpretation and Conclusions • LCA enables environmental performance assessment, including analysis of freshwater eco-toxicity and human toxicity aspects
• Cigarette waste drives toxicity impact – in particular nicotine and mercury content of tobacco and filter
• Unmanaged waste not associated with energy consumption; however… • Allows direct emission of toxins to environment • Leads to concerns such as aesthetics, marine debris, and fire hazards
• Managed waste reduces toxin emissions
9/22/2013
17
THANK YOU VERY MUCH! t.montalbo@pe-international.com
9/22/2013
18