Carbon footprint comparison of sign substrate made from recycled e-waste plastic versus aluminium

Figures & data

Figure 1 Aluminium sign substrate used in the USA.

Table 1 CF calculators.

Object	Calculator	Website
Individuals/households	Carbon fund	http://www.carbonfund.org/Calculators/
	Carbon footprint	http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx
	Climate care	http://www.jpmorganclimatecare.com/
	Terrapas	http://www.terrapass.com/carbon-footprint-calculator/
	…
Industry	Aluminium	http://www.ghgprotocol.org/calculation-tools/aluminum-sector
	Agriculture and horticulture carbon calculator	http://www2.lincoln.ac.nz/carboncalculator/
	…
Corporate/office	GHG corporate calculator	http://www.ghgprotocol.org/calculation-tools/all-tools
	Carbon trust	http://www.carbontrust.co.uk/cut-carbon-reduce-costs/calculate/pages/default.aspx
	…
Product	GaBi	http://www.pe-international.com/services-solutions/carbon-footprint/
	CleanMetrics	http://www.pe-international.com/services-solutions/carbon-footprint/
	Simapro	http://simapro-lca.com/carbonworks.html

Figure 2 Manufacturing process flow diagram of recycled e-waste plastic material.

Table 2 Data collection results of the DRM substrate.

Steps of the DRM	Parameter
Transport of electronic products to recycling centre	Distance	100 km
	Transport mode	Truck
Physical disassembly	Electrical usage	5.083 MJ/kg
Mixing two different types of recycled material together	Electrical usage	0.0076 MJ/kg
Forming the mixed recycled material into the signage substrate	Electrical usage	12.18 MJ/kg
Transport to signage location	Distance	500 km
	Transport mode	Truck

Table 3 Data collection results of the aluminium substrate.

Steps of the aluminium	Parameter
Aluminium sheet production	Referred to the database of Gabi
Transport of aluminium sheet to substrate production centre	Distance	100 km
	Transport mode	Truck
Shearing and punching the sheet into the signage substrate	Electrical usage	0.074 MJ/kg
Transport to signage location	Distance	500 km
	Transport mode	Truck

Figure 3 IO of the blend process model.

Figure 4 IO of the US power grid model.

Figure 5 LCA model for the recycled material.

Table 4 Inventory analysis results of the DRM and aluminium substrates.

			Environmental loads
Category	Flow		DRM substrate	Aluminium substrate
Depletion of Resources		Energy resource (kg)	1.245	4.169
		Material resource (kg)	49.96	131.791
Atmospheric emissions		(kg)	3.2777	10.597
		(kg)	0.006	0.015
		(kg)	4.5 × 10^− 11	1.33 × 10^− 9
		(kg)	6.44 × 10^− 4	9.71 × 10^− 4
		(kg)	0.0156	0.0396
		(kg)	4.98 × 10^− 4	0.0199
		(kg)	4.53 × 10^− 5	8.47 × 10^− 5
		(kg)	1.23 × 10^− 3	0.0973
Waterborne emissions		Heavy metals (kg)	2.27 × 10^− 3	2.4 × 10^− 3
		Inorganic emissions (kg)	0.0172	0.1078
		Organic emissions (kg)	1.05 × 10^− 5	4.57 × 10^− 5
		Particles (kg)	5.32 × 10^− 3	7.81 × 10^− 3

Figure 6 Total CF of various materials.

Figure 7 CF curve with the ratio of primary plastic.