Recent publications on cleaning, hygiene, health and mindful living, selected from open journal feeds. Follow the evidence back to the people who produced it.
Publisher abstract excerptPlastic waste poses significant environmental challenges in developing countries such as Ghana, where rapid economic growth, inadequate waste management infrastructure, and the persistence of linear production systems heighten the urgency of transitioning to circular, resource-efficient industrial p…
Abstract & author credits for Life cycle assessment of polyethylene carrier bags manufactured from recycled plastics in Ghana: Environmental impacts of chemical additives and a fossil-intensive electricity grid
Authors: Kwame Ankomah, David Azanu, Mwema Felix Mwema
Plastic waste poses significant environmental challenges in developing countries such as Ghana, where rapid economic growth, inadequate waste management infrastructure, and the persistence of linear production systems heighten the urgency of transitioning to circular, resource-efficient industrial pathways. This study evaluates the environmental impacts of manufacturing polyethylene carrier bags from recycled plastic waste in Ghana using the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, in accordance with ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. The analysis considers 100,000 polyethylene carrier bags produced per year as the functional unit, with a total bag weight of 750 kg. The system boundary encompasses the manufacturing phase and includes the upstream environmental burdens of electricity consumption, sodium nitrate, and carbon black production, as captured in the Ecoinvent 3.11 database. Impact assessment was performed using SimaPro 10.2.0.3 and the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) V1.11/ World (2010) H methodology, covering 18 impact categories. Results showed that electricity consumption, sourced from Ghana’s fossil-intensive national grid (66.4% thermal, 32.9% hydropower, 0.7% renewables), is the dominant contributor to most impact categories, accounting for a global warming potential of 288.9 kg CO2 eq (total GWP is 353.53 kg CO2 eq), 137.2 kg 1,4-DCB eq (total is 264.5 kg 1,4-DCB eq) terrestrial ecotoxicity, and 106.3 kg oil eq (total is 131.3 kg oil eq) fossil resource scarcity. Sodium hydroxide, used in wastewater treatment, is the second-largest contributor to global warming (26.0 kg CO2 eq). Carbon black is the second-largest contributor to fossil resource scarcity (13.7 kg oil eq), while sodium hydroxide and polyaluminium chloride used in wastewater treatment are significant contributors to toxicity categories. A sensitivity analysis comparing Ghana’s electricity grid to a solar tower energy scenario demonstrates that switching to renewable electricity reduces global warming potential by approximately 74%, from 353.5 kg CO2 eq to 92.0 kg CO2 eq, with similarly substantial reductions across most other impact categories. These findings underscore the critical role of energy decarbonization and additive optimization in improving the environmental performance of plastic recycling operations in Ghana and comparable sub-Saharan African contexts.
Source: PLOS Sustainability and Transformation. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pstr.0000259. Abstract from the publisher’s feed; HTML formatting and repeated author line removed.
Publisher abstract excerptAn increasing number of research institutions and funding bodies are making sustainability a focal point. The rapid rollout of auditing processes, such as the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), and changing institutional policies, are creating demand for sustainability accounting upo…
Abstract & author credits for WillCO2st: leveraging freely available real-time carbon forecasting for research emissions reporting
Authors: William V. Smith, Stefan R. Pulver
An increasing number of research institutions and funding bodies are making sustainability a focal point. The rapid rollout of auditing processes, such as the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF), and changing institutional policies, are creating demand for sustainability accounting upon researchers. Despite the increasing expectations on researchers to actively report their sustainability and demonstrate improvement, easy-to-use, and accurate reporting tools for electricity-associated emissions (scope 2) accounting are not widely available. Here, we created WillCO2st - a free program that enables fast, publication-read sustainability reports. WillCO2st makes use of real-time, region-specific conversion factor data freely available through resources like the Carbon Intensity and Electricity Maps API to create experimental carbon footprinting estimates using metadata from saved experimental files. Data can be simply click-and-dragged into WillCO2st to create an experimental sustainability audit within minutes. Further, we exemplified the utility of WillCO2st’s live-nudging feature by quantifying the retrospective theoretical reduction in electricity-driven emissions from shifting experimental timing to times of day with lower carbon intensities. Overall, WillCO2st eases time and resource burden on researchers and serves as a model for how researchers can effectively and accurately engage with research sustainability auditing.
Source: PLOS Sustainability and Transformation. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pstr.0000257. Abstract from the publisher’s feed; HTML formatting and repeated author line removed.
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