Assessing the whole life carbon footprint of concrete pipes compared to alternate recycled HDPE (R-HDPE) pipes
In the Autumn of 2021, MPA carried out a simplified Whole Life carbon assessment exercise to understand the likely carbon footprint of pipes made of recycled HDPE. Using data available in the public domain, both locally and internationally, we adapted a calculator tool developed for us by consultants Circular Ecology to compare the carbon footprints of concrete pipes and pipes made of recycled HDPE materials.
Key Findings
Our assessment revealed very little difference between a 100% recycled content pipe and some alternatives made of virgin HDPE. Concrete pipe installations performed better compared to recycled HDPE pipes in terms of carbon emissions by 51% to 56%. Even when the same service life (50 years) is assumed, the carbon emissions associated with concrete pipe installations were still up to 8% lower.
Figure1.
Figure 1 summarises the results of the comparison:
- The Cradle to End-of-Service carbon footprint of a concrete pipe installation was consistently 50-53% lower than for a recycled HDPE pipe.
- The Cradle to Grave carbon footprint of a concrete pipe installation is likely to be >53% higher than that for a recycled HDPE pipe. However, End-of-Life was not included in this exercise.
Download the full report