Evaluating localism in the management of post-consumer plastic bottles in Honolulu, Hawai'i: perspectives from industrial ecology and political ecology.

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  • Author(s): Park JY;Park JY;Park JY; Gupta C; Gupta C
  • Source:
    Journal of environmental management [J Environ Manage] 2015 May 01; Vol. 154, pp. 299-306. Date of Electronic Publication: 2015 Mar 06.
  • Publication Type:
    Evaluation Study; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Academic Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 0401664 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1095-8630 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 03014797 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Environ Manage Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: London ; New York, Academic Press.
    • Subject Terms:
      Polyethylene Terephthalates* ; Product Packaging*; Recycling/*economics ; Waste Management/*economics; Cities ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Environment ; Hawaii ; Humans ; Recycling/methods ; Waste Management/methods
    • Abstract:
      Localism or regionalization has become a popular topic in urban design, but recent critics raise the question of whether the local or regional scale is most desirable for industrial ecosystems. As a way to explore the claim that localized metabolism is more sustainable, this study examines the costs and benefits of two differentially scaled strategies for the management of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles originating in the city of Honolulu, Hawai'i: local incineration and trans-continental recycling. We first estimate total environmental impacts of two options using life cycle assessment, and then disaggregate them into local versus non-local impacts to examine the spatial distribution of costs and benefits. We further assess the environmental justification for localized waste management in relation to the broader socio-economic motivations that underlie the way that plastics are managed in Honolulu. In doing so we assess the scale at which waste management is optimized from an environmental standpoint as well as the non-environmental considerations such as security and safety that influence the politics of scale involved in urban metabolic design. By illustrating the trade-offs between a local versus global metabolic pathway for plastic waste, the results from our Honolulu case study are globally relevant for communities interested in sustainable urban design and in particular urban waste management.
      (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Hawaii; Life cycle assessment; Localism; Polyethylene terephthalate bottles; Urban metabolism; Waste management
    • Accession Number:
      0 (Polyethylene Terephthalates)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20150310 Date Completed: 20151026 Latest Revision: 20191210
    • Publication Date:
      20221213
    • Accession Number:
      10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.02.042
    • Accession Number:
      25748597