The point of substitution (PoS) corresponds to the point in the supply chain where secondary materials substitute primary materials. Below the approach to the two material groups present in this study are presented.
Plastic products
Four plastic grades are considered in this study, i.e., the inputs are virgin LDPE and virgin PP in the base case analysis and recycled LDPE and PP in the sensitivity analysis. The PoS for plastic products is identified at the level of recycled polymer granulate replacing virgin polymer resin of the same material (in accordance with the Plastic LCA method).
In this study the PoS is thus set at the secondary granulate after the recycling process. Potential changes of material quality are considered through the CFF parameters Qsin/Qp and Qsout/Qp.
Paper products
The PoS (functional equivalence) for paper products is identified at the level of recycled pulp, as output of the wastepaper recycling. The recycled pulp is wet pumpable pulp ready to pump into the paper machine. It is assumed that the wet pumpable pulp is substituted by virgin pulp. However, the available data for virgin pulp in databases (e.g., Ecoinvent) is linked to the production of market pulp (dry market pulp). Therefore, it is assumed that the wet pumpable pulp is substituted by dry market pulp, understood to be inline with the current PEFCR guidelines for intermediate paper products.