Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective

Plastics are used for various applications, including in the food and beverage industry, for the manufacturing of plastic utensils and straws. The higher utilization of plastic straws has indirectly resulted in the significant disposal of plastic waste, which has become a serious environmental issue...

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Main Authors: Moy, C.-H., Tan, L.-S., Shoparwe, N.F., Shariff, A.M., Tan, J.
Format: Article
Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas
Record Id / ISBN-0: utp-eprints.29521 /
Published: MDPI AG 2021
Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85108215493&doi=10.3390%2fpr9061007&partnerID=40&md5=dae0fa62be1206c488f445983f74a78e
http://eprints.utp.edu.my/29521/
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spelling utp-eprints.295212022-03-25T02:08:26Z Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective Moy, C.-H. Tan, L.-S. Shoparwe, N.F. Shariff, A.M. Tan, J. Plastics are used for various applications, including in the food and beverage industry, for the manufacturing of plastic utensils and straws. The higher utilization of plastic straws has indirectly resulted in the significant disposal of plastic waste, which has become a serious environmental issue. Alternatively, bio-plastic and paper straws have been introduced to reduce plastic waste. However, limited studies are available on the environmental assessment of drinking straws. Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies for bio-plastic and paper straws have not been comprehensively performed previously. Therefore, the impact of both bio-plastic and paper straws on the environment are quantified and compared in this study. Parameters, such as the global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP), were evaluated. The input�output data of the bio-plastic and paper straws processes from a gate-to-grave analysis were obtained from the literature and generated using the SuperPro Designer V9 process simulator. The results show that bio-plastic straws, which are also known as polylactic acid (PLA) straws, had reduced environmental impacts compared to paper straws. The outcomes of this work provide an insight into the application of bio-plastic and paper straws in effectively reducing the impact on the environment and in promoting sustainability, especially from the perspective of Malaysia. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. MDPI AG 2021 Article NonPeerReviewed https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85108215493&doi=10.3390%2fpr9061007&partnerID=40&md5=dae0fa62be1206c488f445983f74a78e Moy, C.-H. and Tan, L.-S. and Shoparwe, N.F. and Shariff, A.M. and Tan, J. (2021) Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective. Processes, 9 (6). http://eprints.utp.edu.my/29521/
institution Universiti Teknologi Petronas
collection UTP Institutional Repository
description Plastics are used for various applications, including in the food and beverage industry, for the manufacturing of plastic utensils and straws. The higher utilization of plastic straws has indirectly resulted in the significant disposal of plastic waste, which has become a serious environmental issue. Alternatively, bio-plastic and paper straws have been introduced to reduce plastic waste. However, limited studies are available on the environmental assessment of drinking straws. Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies for bio-plastic and paper straws have not been comprehensively performed previously. Therefore, the impact of both bio-plastic and paper straws on the environment are quantified and compared in this study. Parameters, such as the global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and eutrophication potential (EP), were evaluated. The input�output data of the bio-plastic and paper straws processes from a gate-to-grave analysis were obtained from the literature and generated using the SuperPro Designer V9 process simulator. The results show that bio-plastic straws, which are also known as polylactic acid (PLA) straws, had reduced environmental impacts compared to paper straws. The outcomes of this work provide an insight into the application of bio-plastic and paper straws in effectively reducing the impact on the environment and in promoting sustainability, especially from the perspective of Malaysia. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
format Article
author Moy, C.-H.
Tan, L.-S.
Shoparwe, N.F.
Shariff, A.M.
Tan, J.
spellingShingle Moy, C.-H.
Tan, L.-S.
Shoparwe, N.F.
Shariff, A.M.
Tan, J.
Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective
author_sort Moy, C.-H.
title Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective
title_short Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective
title_full Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective
title_fullStr Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective
title_full_unstemmed Comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: Malaysia�s perspective
title_sort comparative study of a life cycle assessment for bio-plastic straws and paper straws: malaysia�s perspective
publisher MDPI AG
publishDate 2021
url https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85108215493&doi=10.3390%2fpr9061007&partnerID=40&md5=dae0fa62be1206c488f445983f74a78e
http://eprints.utp.edu.my/29521/
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