Procedia CIRP

End-of-life recycling strategy for single-use plastic containers: a case study of

expanded polystyrene (EPS) household waste in the city of Guayaquil
--Manuscript Draft--

Manuscript Number:

Article Type: SI: LCE 2021

Section/Category: SI: LCE 2021

Keywords: recycling; plastic manufacturing; single-use plastic; expanded polystyrene (EPS)

waste; circular economy

Corresponding Author: Jorge Luis Amaya Rivas, Ph.D.

Guayaquil, ECUADOR

First Author: José Armando Hidalgo, MSc.

Order of Authors: José Armando Hidalgo, MSc.

César Miguel Moreira, PhD.

Freddy Xavier Jervis, PhD.

Manuel Soto, PhD.

Jorge Luis Amaya Rivas, Ph.D.

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End-of-life recycling strategy for single-use plastic containers: a
case study of expanded polystyrene (EPS) household waste in

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Procedia CIRP 00 (2021) 000–000
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28th CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering

End-of-life recycling strategy for single-use plastic containers: a case study

of expanded polystyrene (EPS) household waste in the city of Guayaquil
J. Hidalgo-Crespoa,b, C. M. Moreirac, F. X. Jervisc, M. Sotob, J. L. Amayac,*
a
Universidad de Guayaquil, Facultad de Ingeniería Industrial, Av. Dr. Jiménez Lince y Av. Juan Tanca Marengo, 090501 Guayaquil, Ecuador
b
Universidade da Coruña, Facultade de Ciencias, Rúa da Fraga 10, 15008 A Coruña, Galiza, España
c
ESPOL Polytechnic University, Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL, Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Ciencias de la Producción, Campus
Gustavo Galindo Km. 30.5 Vía Perimetral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil, Ecuador

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +593-4-2269295. E-mail address: jorge-luis.amaya@espol.edu.ec

Abstract

Plastic industry is ubiquitous worldwide. Nowadays, it is impossible to think a world without plastics, due to the wide application of this type of
material. As a result, its production is continuously rising; consequently, the generation of “plastic waste” has been steadily increasing to the
point of being considered a high impact pollutant. Indeed, there is increasing evidence that current use and disposal of single-use plastic leads to
substantial contamination of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, including affectations to wildlife. For Ecuador, it has been estimated that almost
3.26 megatons of single-use expanded polystyrene plastic (EPS) waste are generated every year; hence, local authorities, in an attempt to alleviate
the effects caused by them has issued an ordinance to decrease or eliminate their production in a short span of time. The EPS producers and
Ecuadorian plastic industry aware of the issue, and due to the lack of alternatives to replace EPS with materials of less environmental impact with
comparable versatileness, cost and technological development of oil-based plastics is interested on trying recycling post-consume material, in
order to reduce the mass of “virgin” resin used in their manufacturing process. Regrettably, the management of this type of useful waste-material
is poor which puts this industry in a gridlock. Importantly, it has been shown, through a recent study made in an alliance between the private
sector and the academy, the feasibility of the EPS “mechanical” recycling; therefore, a possible solution through a circular economy model.
However, further analysis on the environmental benefits is needed for the proposed model. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the
potential environmental impacts avoided by the circular economy scenario previously developed by the authors through a life cycle assessment
(LCA) performed for the city of Guayaquil, where 64% of all the plastic manufacturing industries in the country are located.

© 2020 The Authors, Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer review under the responsibility of the scientific committee of the 28th CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering.

Keywords: recycling; plastic manufacturing; single-use plastic; expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste; circular economy.

2212-8271 © 2020 The Authors, Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Peer review under the responsibility of the scientific committee of the 28th CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering.