Environmental Analysis on Disposable Diaper Recycling Using Life Cycle Assessment

Joong Woo Ahn; Kyung Shin Kim

doi:10.7584/JKTAPPI.2018.02.50.1.34

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Environmental Analysis on Disposable Diaper Recycling Using Life Cycle Assessment 종이 기저귀 재활용에 대한 환경성 분석

28 February 2018. pp. 34-43

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Abstract

Recycling of disposable diaper can help to alleviate many of the problems associated with landfills and waste incinerators, such as ground water and air pollution. Along with the consideration of the environmental effects, technology, social acceptance, and economic feasibility also need to be taken into account in promoting the recycling of diaper. With respect to the environmental effect, the environmental enhancement of diaper recycling comparing to current disposal method need to be identified. This study validates that accurate statistical data on diaper generation, material information and usage should be collected to assess the environmental aspect quantification. Life cycle assessment was conducted to measure the environmental impact caused by the utilization of diaper recycling process. Since the environmental effects of diaper recycling are largely avoided by the regeneration of pulp and plastic, the environmental improvement effect is significantly higher than current disposal method considering the production of pulp and plastic. It was found that the improvement effect of 131% in terms of eutrophication and 185% in terms of resource depletion was shown to be improvement. For actual diaper recycling to be realized in the future, an additional study on the optimal size, location, and target rate needs to be carried out through a variety of pilot projects and an environmental analysis should be conducted based on actual operational data.

Keywords

Disposable diapers

life cycle assessment

comparative LCA

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Information

Publisher :Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
Publisher(Ko) :한국펄프종이공학회
Journal Title :Journal of Korea TAPPI
Journal Title(Ko) :펄프종이기술
Volume : 50
No :1
Pages :34-43
Received Date : 2018-02-06
Revised Date : 2018-02-14
Accepted Date : 2018-02-19
DOI :https://doi.org/10.7584/JKTAPPI.2018.02.50.1.34

Journal of Korea TAPPI ISSN:0253-3200(Print) 펄프종이기술

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Literature Cited