Abstract
Purpose
The increasing global concern surrounding plastic pollution has resulted in a spotlight being placed on major contributors. Straws have been identified as a top contributor in this regard leading to a global outcry against plastic straws. This has resulted in the increasing popularity of plastic straw material alternatives. This study compares the environmental impacts associated with five straw material options available in South Africa.
Methods
The straw materials compared include disposable options (polypropylene, paper and polylactide) and reusable straws (glass and steel). Plastic straws were the only option which are locally produced from local materials, whereas glass and steel straws are manufactured from imported materials and paper and polylactide straws are imported. The functional unit was based on an annual straw consumption per capita, which equates to 36 disposable straws and 1 reusable straw. The impact assessment was conducted using the Recipe Midpoint (H) method, which took into consideration 18 impact categories. The potential marine pollution impacts were explored based on the leakage propensity of the material option coupled with its degradability.
Results and discussion
The paper straw was found to have lower climate change emissions than the plastic one, which was mainly caused by the performance of the material. In South Africa, coal is used as a primary feedstock for polypropylene production making it more carbon-intensive in comparison with polypropylene produced in Europe and the USA which is primarily from crude oil and/or natural gas feedstocks. Glass and steel straws would require 23–39 and 37–63 uses respectively to break even with climate change emissions associated with disposable options. Overall, material production was the major contributor to straw emissions. The relative contribution of transportation, including import, was more dependent on the transportation mode compared with distance. For reusable straws, the washing water temperature was found to notably influence emissions. At end-of-life, reusable straws were considered unlikely to enter the marine environments. Disposable straws were found to have a leakage rate of 38%, with paper being the only marine degradable material.
Conclusions
Overall, paper straws had the least impacts in the majority of impact categories in comparison with other disposable options and glass was more favourable to steel. In terms of marine pollution, reusable straws were deemed to pose the least risk due to their unlikelihood to be polluted. Paper was associated with the least potential impacts of the disposal options, due to its degradability.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Althaus H, Dinkel F, Stettler C, Werner F (2007) Life cycle inventories of renewable materials. Final report Ecoinvent data v2.0 No. 21. EMPA, Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf, Switzerland
Andrady AL (2011) Microplastics in the marine environment. Mar Pollut Bull 62:1596–1605. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.05.030
Barnes DK, Galgani F, Thompson RC, Barlaz M (2009) Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philos Trans R Soc Lond Ser B Biol Sci 364:1985–1998. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0205
Beltrán-Sanahuja A, Casado-Coy N, Simó-Cabrera L, Sanz-Lázaro C (2020) Monitoring polymer degradation under different conditions in the marine environment. Environ Pollut 259:113836. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113836
Chamas A, Moon H, Zheng J, Qiu Y, Tabassum T, Jang JH, Abu-Omar M, Scott SL, Suh S (2020) Degradation Rates of Plastics in the Environment. ACS Sustain Chem Eng 8:3494–3511. https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b06635
Chitaka TY, von Blottnitz H (2019) Accumulation and characteristics of plastic debris along five beaches in Cape Town. Mar Pollut Bull 138:451–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.11.065
Civancik-Uslu D, Puig R, Hauschild M, Fullana-i-Palmer P (2019) Life cycle assessment of carrier bags and development of a littering indicator. Sci Total Environ 685:621–630. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.372
DEA (2018) South Africa state of waste. A report on the state of the environment, Department of Environmental Affairs, Pretoria, South Africa
Derraik JGB (2002) The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review. Mar Pollut Bull 44:842–852. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0025-326X(02)00220-5
Doka G (2017) Calculation manual for for regionalised waste treatment. For Sustainable Recycling Industries, mandated by Ecoinvent Association, Zurich. Doka Life Cycle Assessments, Zurich, Switzerland
European Parliament (2018) Plastic oceans: MEPs back EU ban on throwaway plastics by 2021 [Press Release]. Eur. Parliam. News Press room, In http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20181018IPR16524/plastic-oceans-meps-back-eu-ban-on-throwaway-plastics-by-2021.
Franklin Associates (2011a) Life cycle inventory of foam polystyrene, paper-based, and PLA foodservice products. Franklin Associates, Prairie Village, United States
Franklin Associates (2011b) Cradle-to-gate life cycle inventory of nine plastic resins and four polyurethane precursors. Franklin Associates, Prairie Village, United States
Galgani F, Hanke G, Maes T (2015) Global distribution, composition and abundance of marine litter. In: Gutow L, Klages M (eds) Bergmann M. Marine Anthropogenic Litter, SpringerOpen, pp 29–56
Gall SC, Thompson RC (2015) The impact of debris on marine life. Mar Pollut Bull 92:170–179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.12.041
Galloway TS, Cole M, Lewis C (2017) Interactions of microplastic debris throughout the marine ecosystem. Nat Ecol Evol 1:1–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0116
Gewert B, Plassmann MM, Macleod M (2015) Pathways for degradation of plastic polymers floating in the marine environment. Environ Sci Process Impacts 17:1513–1521. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5em00207a
Gibbens S (2019) A brief history of how plastic straws took over the world. Natl. Geogr. Mag, In https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/07/news-plastic-drinking-straw-history-ban/.
Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica (2018) 2018 Budget. Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica
GreenCape (2016) Waste Economy: Market Intelligence Report 2016. GreenCape, Cape Town
Greene J (2018) Biodegradation of biodegradable and compostable plastics under industrial compost, marine and anaerobic digestion. Ecol Pollut Environ Sci 1:13–18
Guinée JB, Gorrée M, Heijungs R, et al (2002) Life cycle assessment: an operational guide to the ISO standards. Part 3: Scientific background. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Häkkinen T, Vares S (2010) Environmental impacts of disposable cups with special focus on the effect of material choices and end of life. J Clean Prod 18:1458–1463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2010.05.005
Harnoto MF (2013) A comparative life cycle assessment of compostable and reusable takeout clamshells at the University of California. Department of Environmental Sciences, Policy & Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley
Hermabessiere L, Dehaut A, Paul-Pont I, Lacroix C, Jezequel R, Soudant P, Duflos G (2017) Occurrence and effects of plastic additives on marine environments and organisms: a review. Chemosphere 182:781–793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.05.096
Hischier R (2007) Life cycle inventories of packaging and graphical papers. Ecoinvent report No. 11. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf, Switzerland
Hottle TA, Bilec MM, Landis AE (2017) Biopolymer production and end of life comparisons using life cycle assessment. Resour Conserv Recycl 122:295–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.03.002
James K, Grant T (2005) LCA of degradable plastic bags. In: Proceedings of the 4th Australian LCA Conference. 23-25 February 2005. Sydney, Australia, pp 1–17
JIS (2018) Plastic bags, straw and polystyrene ban. In: Jamaica Inf. Serv. https://jis.gov.jm/information/get-the-facts/plastic-bags-straw-and-polystyrene-ban/ Subscribe. Accessed 2 Jan 2019
Kellenberger D, Althaus H-J, Künninger T, et al (2007) Life cycle inventories of building products. Final report Ecoinvent data v2.0 No. 7. EMPA, Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf, Switzerland
Kimmel RM, Cooksey KD, Littman A et al (2014) Life cycle assessment of grocery bags in common use in the United States. Clemson University Press
Kolstad JJ, Vink ETH, De Wilde B, Debeer L (2012) Assessment of anaerobic degradation of IngeoTM polylactides under accelerated landfill conditions. Polym Degrad Stab 97:1131–1141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2012.04.003
Krause MJ, Townsend TG (2016) Life-cycle assumptions of landfilled polylactic acid underpredict methane generation. Environ Sci Technol Lett 3:166–169. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00068
Kühn S, Bravo Rebolledo EL, van Franeker JA (2015) Delterious effects of litter on marine life. In: Gutow L, Klages M (eds) Bergmann M. Marine Anthropogenic Litter, SpringerOpen, pp 75–116
Lusher A (2015) Microplastics in the Marine Environment: Distribution, Interactions and Effects. In: Gutow L, Klages M (eds) Bergmann M. Marine Anthropogenic Litter, SpringerOpen, pp 245–307
Madival S, Auras R, Singh SP, Narayan R (2009) Assessment of the environmental profile of PLA, PET and PS clamshell containers using LCA methodology. J Clean Prod 17:1183–1194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2009.03.015
Min K, Cuiffi JD, Mathers RT (2020) Ranking environmental degradation trends of plastic marine debris based on physical properties and molecular structure. Nat Commun 11:11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14538-z
Potting J, van der Harst E (2015) Facility arrangements and the environmental performance of disposable and reusable cups. Int J Life Cycle Assess 20:1143–1154. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-0914-7
Rochman CM, Browne MA, Underwood AJ, van Franeker JA, Thompson RC, Amaral-Zettler LA (2016) The ecological impacts of marine debris: unraveling the demonstrated evidence from what is perceived. Ecology 97:302–312. https://doi.org/10.1890/14-2070.1
Rokka J, Uusitalo L (2008) Preference for green packaging in consumer product choices - Do consumers care? Int J Consum Stud 32:516–525. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2008.00710.x
Rosenbaum RK (2008) USEtox - The UNEP/SETAC toxicity model: recommended characterisation factors for human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in Life Cycle Impact Assessment. Int J Life Cycle Assess 13:532–546
Rossi V, Cleeve-Edwards N, Lundquist L, Schenker U, Dubois C, Humbert S, Jolliet O (2015) Life cycle assessment of end-of-life options for two biodegradable packaging materials: sound application of the European waste hierarchy. J Clean Prod 86:132–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.08.049
Rundh B (2005) The multi-faceted dimension of packaging: Marketing logistic or marketing tool? Br Food J 107:670–684. https://doi.org/10.1108/00070700510615053
Russo V, von Blottnitz H (2018) Life cycle inventories of synthetic fuel production from coal and domestic fuel markets in South Africa. Ecoinent Association, Zürich, Switzerland
Ryan PG (2014) Litter survey detects the South Atlantic “garbage patch.” Mar Pollut Bull 79:220–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.12.010
SAnews (2019) Talks underway on the last straw. In: South African Gov. News Agency. https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/talks-underway-last-straw. Accessed 19 Aug 2019
SASOL Operations / Locations | Sasol. http://www.sasol.com/about-sasol/regional-operating-hubs/southern-africa-operations/secunda-synfuels-operations. Accessed 15 Oct 2018
Schenker U, Espinoza-Orias N, Popovic D (2014) EcodEX : A simplified ecodesign tool to improve the environmental performance of product development in the food industry. In: 9th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment in the Agri-Food Sector
Sevitz J, Brent AC, Fourie AB (2012) An environmental comparison of plastic and paper consumer carrier bags in South Africa: implications for the local manufacturing industry. South African J Ind Eng 14:67–82. https://doi.org/10.7166/14-1-299
Sonnemann G, Valdivia S, Prox M, et al (2017) Medellin Declaration on Marine Litter in Life Cycle Assessment and Management. https://fslci.org/medellindeclaration/. Accessed 28 Aug 2017
Stats SA (2018a) General household survey 2017. Statistics South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Stats SA (2018b) Electricity, gas and water supply industry, 2016. Statistics South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa
Suwanmanee U, Varabuntoonvit V, Chaiwutthinan P, Tajan M, Mungcharoen T, Leejarkpai T (2013) Life cycle assessment of single use thermoform boxes made from polystyrene (PS), polylactic acid, (PLA), and PLA/starch: Cradle to consumer gate. Int J Life Cycle Assess 18:401–417. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-012-0479-7
UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative (2013) An analysis of life cycle assessment in packaging for food & beverage applications. United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya
van der Harst E, Potting J, Kroeze C (2014) Multiple data sets and modelling choices in a comparative LCA of disposable beverage cups. Sci Total Environ 494–495:129–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.06.084
Venter K, van der Merwe D, de Beer H, Kempen E, Bosman M (2011) Consumers’ perceptions of food packaging: an exploratory investigation in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Int J Consum Stud 35:273–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2010.00936.x
Vink ETH, Davies S (2015) Life cycle inventory and impact assessment data for 2014 IngeoTM polylactide production. Ind Biotechnol 11:167–180. https://doi.org/10.1089/ind.2015.0003
Vink ETH, Glassner DA, Kolstad JJ, Wooley RJ, O’Connor RP (2007) ORIGINAL RESEARCH: The eco-profiles for current and near-future NatureWorks® polylactide (PLA) production. Ind Biotechnol 3:58–81. https://doi.org/10.1089/ind.2007.3.058
Williams H, Wikström F, Löfgren M (2008) A life cycle perspective on environmental effects of customer focused packaging development. J Clean Prod 16:853–859. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2007.05.006
Withnall A (2018) India makes “unprecedented” pledge to ban all single-use plastic by 2022. Indep, In https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/india-plastic-ban-2022-single-use-narendra-modi-world-environment-day-a8385966.html.
Woods JS, Rødder G, Verones F (2019) An effect factor approach for quantifying the entanglement impact on marine species of macroplastic debris within life cycle impact assessment. Ecol Indic 99:61–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.12.018
Woods JS, Veltman K, Huijbregts MAJ, Verones F, Hertwich EG (2016) Towards a meaningful assessment of marine ecological impacts in life cycle assessment (LCA). Environ Int 89–90:48–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2015.12.033
Worm B, Lotze HK, Jubinville I, Wilcox C, Jambeck J (2017) Plastic as a persistent marine pollutant. Annu Rev Environ Resour 42:1–26. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-102016-060700
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the local straw distributors and manufacturers who provided information regarding the different straw life cycle stages.
Funding
This work is based on the research supported in part by the National Research Foundation of South Africa (Grant Number: 116431).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible editor: Guido W. Sonnemann
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chitaka, T.Y., Russo, V. & von Blottnitz, H. In pursuit of environmentally friendly straws: a comparative life cycle assessment of five straw material options in South Africa. Int J Life Cycle Assess 25, 1818–1832 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01786-w
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-020-01786-w