What is the environmental impact of PE pipe?
Environmental impacts are changes in the
natural or built environment, resulting directly from an activity, that can
have adverse effects on climate, resources, health, nature and the inhabitants
of the ecosystem. They occur as pollution, contamination, or destruction that
occurs as a consequence of an action. Any such consequences that can have
short-term or long-term ramifications are considered to be environmental impacts.
There
are several aspects of environmental impact, not only energy and carbon. They
include greenhouse gas emissions (especially methane and carbon dioxide) that
cause climate change, recycling, water use, energy and resource consumption.
Environmental
impact of an action, such as the manufacture and use of a product, can be
measured using Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). An LCA provides the most recognised
method to quantify environmental impacts of products, processes and/or systems.
It shows the environmental effects of a product over its entire life cycle,
including extraction of raw materials, production of materials and the product,
construction, use and end-of-life treatment. The LCA considers 7 criteria
across the full life cycle of the product. This is explained well at:
EPD-LCA-Environmental-Impact-Explanation-1
An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) provides a standard way of communicating the output from such an LCA. The structure of international Standards governing EPDs for construction products is shown below.
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In the case of a pipe system the EPD enables the user to
assess the environmental impact of the pipe system and allows comparisons to be
made with alternative products at the system level. An EPD calculator for PE100
pipes can be found at:
Environmental
Product Declaration EPD Calculator (teppfa.eu)
This compares PE100 with ductile iron pipe for water
distribution applications. It is equally valid for gas distribution and for
pressure sewerage applications.
The EPD document for PE100 pipe can be found at:
Water distribution - PE 100.compressed.pdf (teppfaepdapp.eu)
How much energy is consumed in the manufacture of PE pipe?
The energy consumption in the manufacture of PE pipe is shown in Section 3.3 of the EPD. Note that the functional unit for the LCA is 100m of DN110 SDR17 PE100 pipe & fittings. This is approx. 220kg of PE. EPD Calculator References Investigation of European life cycle assessment studies of pipes made of different materials for water supply and sewer systems - a critical comparison. Windsperger, A., Steinlechner, S., Schneider, F.. Institut für Industrielle Ökologie, St.Pölten, Austria....
Can PE pipe be recycled?
PE pipe can easily be recycled PE pipe can easily be recycled, either as new PE pipe or for other uses. The end product depends on the condition of the pipe. There is minimal material degradation during the pipe manufacturing process. So rejected pipe material, for example from start up or errors in processing, can be 100% recycled back into pipe and can meet all the required performance parameters. Therefore the level of material waste in manufacturing is very low. PE pipe can be...
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