How sustainable is organic packaging? A design method for recyclability assessment via a social perspective: A case study of Porto Alegre city (Brazil)

Abstract Current Brazilian municipal solid waste treatment system depends on public policy in maintaining Sorting Units, sites where low-income workers survive by selling sorted urban dry residues. Municipal waste departments often transport unsold post-sorted residues directly to landfills despite the possibility of recovery and recycling, thus lowering the income of the workers and consequently increasing the environmental impact. This study focused on industrialized organic food, which is cultivated in small, family-managed farms and is mostly sold on supermarket chains through regular packaging. Packaging recyclability is related to the feasibility of selling the sorted residues, including market value and buyers' interest, and may reveal important design guidelines for better packaging solutions. However, few studies have explored it as a method to assist in the design process. This study approaches organics' polymeric packaging recyclability through the social viewpoint of Sorting Units' workers of Porto Alegre City, Brazil. Porto Alegre's urban waste management system is described and followed by an overview of the Sorting Units' scenario. We analyzed more than 50 industrialized organic food packaging via Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy. Common packaging features were listed and weighed, resulting in the generation of 15 subindexes. We developed a novel and simplified method for estimating the recyclability of organics polymeric packaging according to the current Sorting Units' criteria. Results showed that specific packaging features can significantly reduce or fully prevent the sell and consequent recycle of the dry waste. However, most of those characteristics could be replaced by simpler alternatives, thus increasing the selling possibilities in the Sorting Units. Finally, the simplified, binary equation of the design method can be applied by packaging designers and manufacturers to easily estimate the recyclability rate of a polymer packaging at a projection level.

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