an official journal of: published by:
an official journal of: published by:
Editor in Chief: RAFFAELLO COSSU

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT OF BEVERAGE PACKAGING

  • Alice Brock - Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  • Ian D. Williams - Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Released under CC BY-NC-ND

Copyright: © 2019 CISA Publisher


Abstract

Global plastic production has been increasing annually since World War II and is currently 380 million tonnes. Global concern about pollution from plastics in the seas and the environmental costs of plastics manufacture is rising. This study aimed to: i) review the costs, benefits, advantages / disadvantages of plastics as packaging materials and ii) use life cycle assessment to determine if there is less environmentally impactful beverage packaging than plastic bottles. As different beverages have different packaging needs, three categories were used: commonly used containers for milk, fruit juice and pressurised ‘fizzy’ drinks. The packaging types included in the assessment were glass bottles, aluminium cans, milk cartons, Tetra Pak, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and high-density polythene (HDPE) bottles. The ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006 standards for life cycle assessment formed the basis of the methodology. The open source software openLCA was used to conduct the assessments. Data was assembled from LCA databases such as the European reference Life Cycle Database of the Joint Research Center (ELCD), existing life cycle assessments, scientific reports and peer reviewed literature. The functional unit was set at a container that held one litre of fluid. The results found that in each category there was a less impactful beverage packaging than plastic bottles. In the Pressurised Beverage Category, 100% recycled aluminium cans would be the least impactful option, in the Fruit Juice Beverage Category Tetra Pak would be the least impactful option and in the Milk Beverage Category milk cartons would be the least impactful option.

Keywords


Editorial History

  • Received: 14 Nov 2019
  • Revised: 28 Apr 2020
  • Accepted: 25 May 2020
  • Available online: 05 Oct 2020

References

Accorsi, R., Versari, L., Manzini, R., 2015. Glass vs. plastic: Life cycle assessment of extra-virgin olive oil bottles across global supply chains. Sustain. 7, 2818–2840.
DOI 10.3390/su7032818

Amienyo, D., Gujba, H., Stichnothe, H., Azapagic, A., 2013. Life cycle environmental impacts of carbonated soft drinks. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 18, 77–92.
DOI 10.1007/s11367-012-0459-y

Andrady, A.L., Neal, M.A., n.d. Applications and societal benefits of plastics.
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2008.0304

Andreyeva, T., Long, M.W., Brownell, K.D., 2010. The impact of food prices on consumption: a systematic review of research on the price elasticity of demand for food. Am. J. Public Health 100, 216–22.
DOI 10.2105/AJPH.2008.151415

Bare, J.C., Pennington, D.W., Haes, H.A.U. de, 2008. Life cycle impact assessment sophistication. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 4, 299–306.
DOI 10.1007/bf02979184

Bettens, F., Bagard, R., 2016. Life Cycle Assessment of Container Glass in Europe Methodological report European Container Glass Federation (FEVE). Brussels

Bjørn, A., Moltesen, A., Laurent, A., Owsianiak, M., Corona, A., Birkved, M., Hauschild, M.Z., 2018a. Life Cycle Inventory Analysis, in: Life Cycle Assessment. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 117–165.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_9

Bjørn, A., Owsianiak, M., Laurent, A., Olsen, S.I., Corona, A., Hauschild, M.Z., 2018b. Scope Definition, in: Life Cycle Assessment. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 75–116.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_8

Bjørn, A., Owsianiak, M., Molin, C., Laurent, A., 2018c. Main Characteristics of LCA, in: Life Cycle Assessment. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 9–16.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_2

Campbell, A.J., 1994. The recycling, reuse and disposal of food packaging materials: a UK perspective, in: Food Packaging and Preservation. Springer US, Boston, MA, pp. 210–221.
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-2173-0_12

Cleary, J., 2013. Life cycle assessments of wine and spirit packaging at the product and the municipal scale: a Toronto, Canada case study. J. Clean. Prod. 44, 143–151.
DOI 10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2013.01.009

Curran, M.A., 2017a. Overview of Goal and Scope Definition in Life Cycle Assessment. pp. 1–62.
DOI 10.1007/978-94-024-0855-3_1

Curran, M.A. (Ed.), 2017b. Goal and Scope Definition in Life Cycle Assessment, LCA Compendium – The Complete World of Life Cycle Assessment. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht.
DOI 10.1007/978-94-024-0855-3

Dick Vethaak, A., Leslie, H.A., 2016. Plastic Debris Is a Human Health Issue.
DOI 10.1021/acs.est.6b02569

Environmental Audit Committee, 2018. Disposable Packaging: Coffee Cups Second Report of Session 2017-19 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report

Environmental Audit Committee, 2017. Plastic bottles: Turning Back the Plastic Tide First Report of Session 2017-19 Report, together with formal minutes relating to the report

Epstein, L.H., Jankowiak, N., Nederkoorn, C., Raynor, H.A., French, S.A., Finkelstein, E., 2012. Experimental research on the relation between food price changes and food-purchasing patterns: a targeted review. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 95, 789–809.
DOI 10.3945/ajcn.111.024380

Eriksen, M., Lebreton, L.C.M., Carson, H.S., Thiel, M., Moore, C.J., Borerro, J.C., Galgani, F., Ryan, P.G., Reisser, J., 2014. Plastic Pollution in the World’s Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea. PLoS One 9, e111913.
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0111913

Eriksson, E., Jelse, K., Einarson, E., Ekvall, T., 2009. Life Cycle Assessment of consumer packaging for liquid food

Fachverband, Kartonverpackungen, 2007. Life Cycle Assessment: Beverage Cartons Under Test. Wiesbaden

Franklin Associates, 2009. LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY OF THREE SINGLE-SERVING SOFT DRINK CONTAINERS Revised Peer Reviewed Final Report Prepared for PET Resin Association. Prairie Village

Hahladakis, J.N., Purnell, P., Iacovidou, E., Velis, C.A., Atseyinku, M., 2018. Post-consumer plastic packaging waste in England: Assessing the yield of multiple collection-recycling schemes. Waste Manag. 75, 149–159.
DOI 10.1016/J.WASMAN.2018.02.009

Jelse, K., Eriksson, E., Einarson, E., 2009. Life Cycle Assessment of consumer packaging for liquid food LCA of Tetra Pak and alternative packaging on the Nordic market. Stockholm

Laist, D.W., 1987. Overview of the biological effects of lost and discarded plastic debris in the marine environment. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 18, 319–326.
DOI 10.1016/S0025-326X(87)80019-X

Mata, T.M., Costa, C.A. V., 2001. Life cycle assessment of different reuse percentages for glass beer bottles. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 6, 307–319.
DOI 10.1007/BF02978793

Meyhoff Fry, J., Hartlin, B., Wallen, E., Aumonier, S., 2010. Final Report Retail 2010 LCA on milk containers. Oxon

Morales-Méndez, J.-D., Silva-Rodríguez, R., 2018. Environmental assessment of ozone layer depletion due to the manufacture of plastic bags. Heliyon 4, e01020.
DOI 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e01020

O’Rourke, D., Connolly, S., 2003. J UST O IL ? T HE D ISTRIBUTION OF E NVIRONMENTAL AND S OCIAL I MPACTS OF O IL P RODUCTION AND C ONSUMPTION. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 28, 587–617.
DOI 10.1146/annurev.energy.28.050302.105617

Romero-Hernández, O., Romero Hernández, S., Muñoz, D., Detta-Silveira, E., Palacios-Brun, A., Laguna, A., 2009. Environmental implications and market analysis of soft drink packaging systems in Mexico. A waste management approach. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 14, 107–113.
DOI 10.1007/s11367-008-0053-5

Rosenbaum, R.K., 2017. Selection of Impact Categories, Category Indicators and Characterization Models in Goal and Scope Definition. pp. 63–122.
DOI 10.1007/978-94-024-0855-3_2

Rosenbaum, R.K., Hauschild, M.Z., Boulay, A.-M., Fantke, P., Laurent, A., Núñez, M., Vieira, M., 2018. Life Cycle Impact Assessment, in: Life Cycle Assessment. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp. 167–270.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-56475-3_10

Saleh, Y., 2016. Comparative life cycle assessment of beverages packages in Palestine. J. Clean. Prod. 131, 28–42.
DOI 10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2016.05.080

Smithers, R., 2018. UK retailers see rise in sales of reusable coffee cups [WWW Document]. Guard. URL https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/11/uk-retailers-see-rise-in-sales-of-reusable-coffee-cups (accessed 4.16.19)

Sodastream, n.d. SodaStream. About SodaStream [WWW Document]. URL https://corp.sodastream.com/about/ (accessed 4.16.19)

TERI, 2010. Tetra Pak Cartons Post Consumer Management

Tetra Pak, 2012. Protecting the Future: Tetra Pak Environment & Social Report

The Ellen McArthur Foundation, 2016. The New Plastics Economy

Von Falkenstein, E., Wellenreuther, F., Detzel, A., 2010. LCA studies comparing beverage cartons and alternative packaging: Can overall conclusions be drawn? Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 15, 938–945.
DOI 10.1007/s11367-010-0218-x

WRAP, 2017. Collection of food and drink cartons at the kerbside Guidance for local authorities and waste contractors