sustainability Article The Management of Polymer and Biodegradable Composite Waste in Relation to Petroleum-Based Thermoplastic Polymer Waste—In Terms of Energy Consumption and Processability Tomasz Stachowiak 1,* and Katarzyna Łukasik 2 1 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science, Czestochowa University of Technology, 42-201 Cz˛estochowa,Poland 2 Faculty of Management, Czestochowa University of Technology, 42-201 Czestochowa, Poland; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The article presents a comparative analysis of the flow and utilisation of biodegradable polymer waste in relation to the waste of petroleum-based thermoplastic polymers. It compares en- ergy expenditures and the costs of the reutilisation of both types of plastics in industrial applications. The performed studies and an analysis of the yielded results enabled the acquisition of real data involving the subject of managing petroleum-based plastic waste after the end of its life cycle, as well as biodegradable plastic waste, over the recent years, which is the main purpose of the study. So far, this subject has not been analysed very frequently, and, considering climate change, the predatory economy and the growing population of our planet, it is becoming an important topic, within the scope of which it is necessary to develop a new approach and new solutions regarding legal regula- Citation: Stachowiak, T.; Łukasik, K. tions and social awareness, as well as the technological possibilities of their implementation. The The Management of Polymer and authors’ own research will indicate factual results related to managing various types of waste, based Biodegradable Composite Waste in on the example of data acquired from a company involved in the retreatment of plastics and give Relation to Petroleum-Based answers to bothering questions such as: Is there an impact of retreatment on technological indicators Thermoplastic Polymer Waste—In defined by means of the mass flow rate? Is the retreatment of biodegradable plastics justified in terms Terms of Energy Consumption and Processability. Sustainability 2021, 13, of economy, energy and ecology? Is the retreatment of biodegradable plastics efficient? 3701. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su13073701 Keywords: waste management; biodegradable plastics; polymers; recycling Academic Editor: Antonio Zuorro Received: 21 February 2021 1. Introduction Accepted: 21 March 2021 Nowadays, the plastic industry is facing the challenge of efficient waste management Published: 26 March 2021 aimed at minimising the degradation of the natural environment. It is believed that the main issues that require actions for the abovementioned purpose include, e.g., the Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral reduction of the regular release of greenhouse gases, paying attention to the shortage with regard to jurisdictional claims in of space available for waste removal (escalating accumulation of waste materials), or published maps and institutional affil- the use of natural deposits for the production of plastics. The reduction of these effects, iations. which are detrimental to the natural environment, primarily comes down to proper waste management, which is being demanded by the anxious society, and which results in strategies established under domestic public policy, strictly related to the institutional, legal, political and economic context of every country [1]. The EU has one of the world’s highest Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. environmental standards, developed over the course of decades. Its environmental policy Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. helps to make the EU’s economy more environmentally friendly; it protects the natural This article is an open access article resources of Europe and guarantees the health and well-being of the EU’s inhabitants distributed under the terms and (articles 11 and 191–193) [2]; in spite of this, the statistical data presented in the following conditions of the Creative Commons part of the paper indicates that the effects of waste management are still quite controversial Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// and require even more radical actions for more efficient waste management in Europe. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ These actions must lead to the offering of solutions favouring sustainable management of 4.0/). Sustainability 2021, 13, 3701. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073701 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2021, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 18 Sustainability 2021, 13, 3701 part of the paper indicates that the effects of waste management are still quite controver-2 of 16 sial and require even more radical actions for more efficient waste management in Europe. These actions must lead to the offering of solutions favouring sustainable management of waste, simultaneously promoting its recycling and efficient conversion of waste into en- waste, simultaneously promoting its recycling and efficient conversion of waste into energy ergy and other precious chemicals [3]. These conversion procedures can be reached via and other precious chemicals [3]. These conversion procedures can be reached via the use the use of biological processes, such as anaerobic decomposition, or thermochemical pro- of biological processes, such as anaerobic decomposition, or thermochemical procedures, cedures, such as pyrolysis. The following paper shows which results of the above have such as pyrolysis. The following paper shows which results of the above have already already been achieved. been achieved. 2. Review Review of of the the L Literatureiterature 2.1. Waste Waste M Managementanagement Currently, the system of waste management (WM) and disposal in various industries isis considered to to be one of the most important issues issues of of environmental management management [ [44].]. Since efficient efficient WM is of keykey significancesignificance for sustainable development [ 5,6], its efficiencyefficiency constitutes a basis for environmental policy all over the world [7], and the world of politics and industry is considering newer and newer methods for the recycling of plastics [ 8], or their application to energy recovery, limiting the development of waste plastic landfillslandfills ((FigureFigure 11);); thisthis primarilyprimarily involvesinvolves polymers,polymers, polymerpolymer materialsmaterials andand polymerpolymer compositescomposites contaminated with with additional additional substances, substances, all all of of which which are are hard hard to toprocess process [9]. [ 9Due]. Due to the to above,the above, the studies the studies of waste of waste management management are pursued are pursued at a large at a large scale scale both bothin Europe in Europe and inand the in world the world [10–14 [10]. What–14]. is What equally is equally important important is that the is thatcommonly the commonly used waste used manage- waste mentmanagement methods methods presented presented in Figure in 1 Figure do not1 doalways not always work to work the same to the advantageous same advantageous extent duringextent duringwaste retreatment. waste retreatment. Figure 1. Methods for managing polymer and composite plastics. WWMM methodsmethods shouldshould complement complement each each other; other e.g.,; e.g. energy, energy recovery recovery is a necessary,is a necessary, fully fullyfunctional functional method method for utilising for utilising waste waste plastics, plastics, complementary complementary to recycling, to recycling, enabling enabling full fullutilisation utilisation of the of potentialthe potential of waste of waste for thefor productionthe production of energy of energy and and heat heat [15]. [1 Recycling5]. Recy- clingmay provemay prove to be unecologicalto be unecological and uneconomic and uneconomic for the for recovery the recovery of certain of certain plastics, plastics, due to duevarious to various factors factors limiting limiting the capabilities the capabilities of recycling of recycling [16,17]: [16,17]: • TThehe magnitude and and quality quality (homogeneity, (homogeneity, purity, purity, toxicity) of the waste stream stream gath- gath- ered under selective collection, • AAvailablevailable sorting technologies,technologies, • MMarketarket demand demand for for products products recovered recovered from from plastic plastic waste waste and andthe requirements the requirements con- cerningconcerning their their quality. quality. Solid waste management is is a a problem of EU politicians, as well as as,, primarily primarily,, most contemporary production companies, especially from the industry of artificial materials. contemporary production companies, especially from the industry of artificial materials. With the minimisation of traditional landfilling, plastics are currently undesirable for the With the minimisation of traditional landfilling, plastics are currently undesirable for the environment. Moreover, there is a problem of the generation of enormous amounts of environment. Moreover, there is a problem of the generation of enormous amounts of polymer waste in certain countries of the EU. Most solid polymers (plastics) are used as protective coatings of everyday items, packaging, bottles, and electronic devices. The ability to design polymer materials with varying properties causes them to also serve an important function in the development of medicine or the transport industry (aviation, Sustainability 2021, 13, 3701 3 of 16 automotive, space industry). In most cases, they are designed and manufactured to be resistant