Automotive Recycling, Plastics, and Sustainability: The Recycling Renaissance

ISBN-13: 9783319861548 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 184 str.

David Schonmayr

Spis treści

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- 1. A transdisciplinary journey into sustainability science.- 1.1. Transdisciplinarity – why is it so important?.- 1.2. Geographic society and environment research.- 1.3. Systems sciences.- 1.4. Sustainable development.- 1.5. Ecology.- 1.6. Economy.- 1.7. Society, ethics, psychology, politics, and technology.- 1.8. In a nutshell: controversial sustainability as a challenge.- 2. Sustainability and automotive plastics - a controversial industry reality.- 2.1. Plastics.- 2.1.1. Definition and development of plastics.- 2.1.2. The life cycle of plastics.- 2.1.3. Environmental and social impact of plastics.- 2.1.4. Waste treatment technologies for (automotive) plastics.- 2.1.5. Environmentally sound solution: circular life cycle of plastics.- 2.1.6. Plastics are a blessing and a curse - a summary.- 2.2. Automotive plastics.- 2.2.1. Automotive and automotive plastic trends.- 2.2.2. Environmental impact of automotive plastics and cars in general.- 2.2.3.The car life cycle, ELV management, and recycling.- 2.3. In a nutshell: Holistic controversy of automotive plastics.- 3. What do the experts say? The survey results.-3.1. Validation of survey data through expert workshop.- 3.2. Demographic data and details about the survey participants.- 3.3. Automotive plastics recycling and recycled plastics.- 3.4. Special information from the survey groups.- 3.4.1. The survey - automotive group.- 3.4.2.The survey - recycling group.- 3.4.3. The survey - plastics group.- 3.5. In a nutshell: The survey results.- 4. A SCOT analysis, future perspectives and scenarios.- 5. Concepts for solutions to advance automotive recycling.- 5.1. A solution ranking by experts.- 5.2. Solutions for politics, companies, and independent institutions.- 5.3. Elements of a roadmap to ecologically sustainable automotive plastics.- 6. Today’s illusion: true sustainability.- 7. Today’s chance: the recycling renaissance.- 8. Why automotive recycling is an opportunity – an executive summary.- Bibliography.-Appendices.- Glossary.- Methods of the empirical research.- The original survey, and expert interview.

O autorze

The author, David Schönmayr PhD, is a scholar in the field of corporate sustainability. He received his interdisciplinary doctoral degree at the Department of Geography and Regional Science, and the Institute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research, University of Graz. Currently, he is active at the Cleantech-Cluster in Upper Austria promoting practical sustainability together with industry, research institutes and universities.

Blurb

This book provides transdisciplinary analyses of the automotive plastics production and recycling system, including prognoses, scenarios and solutions for corporate sustainability management.

A book on plastics, not written by a plastics guy. But a sustainability guy. Plastics schizophrenia and the automotive abyss: The industry is facing a severe challenge. It is the inevitable and promising change towards a sustainable economy. However, the automotive industry is primarily concerned with the CO2 emissions from cars when driving, while the rise of lightweight plastics, electric drive and heavy batteries make the production and end-of-life phase ever more important. Therefore, the currently increasing use of non-sustainable virgin plastics in cars has to be tackled.

The plastics and the automotive industry now have a chance, and this chance is the Recycling Renaissance.

This book offers:

• Holistic and transdisciplinary overview on sustainability and automotive plastics from all angles including economy, ecology, technology, and politics with a focus on Europe

• Concise analyses, prognoses, tools and a roadmap with solutions for companies, developed together with international experts from industry and academia 

• Strong scientific basis and independent research including a Europe-wide survey, expert interviews, and workshops

• More than 80 illustrations and 15 tables including a SCOT analysis 

• Executive summaries after each chapter for fast reading

“The uniqueness of this book lies within the different point of view on this topic from a critical, outstanding scientist.” - Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.mont. Pomberger, Montanuni Leoben