Life cycle assessment the life cycle of milk and juice packaging

 

Whole Sales Packaging  Life cycle assessments examine the entire life cycle - from raw material extraction through production to recycling. How life cycle assessments are to be drawn up is laid down in binding standards and procedural rules. Compared to other beverage packaging, beverage cartons do well.

First life cycle assessment according to new USA requirements

After three years of research with business and environmental associations, the Federal Environment Agency (USA) established binding procedural rules in February 2016 that makes it possible to draw up verifiable balances corresponding to state of the art. These minimum requirements are based on the international standard of the ISO series of standards 14040-44. The Federal Environment Ministry has declared that it will only accept life cycle assessments that have been drawn upon this basis and checked by the USA in preparation for political decisions - such as the introduction of deposit obligations.

Pilot study 2018 revision 2020

The manufacturers of beverage cartons were the first to meet this requirement. Therefore, the life cycle assessment published in July 2019 has the character of a pilot: It meets the USA requirements and is supported by an expert committee.

The result in short: the beverage carton is - from an ecological point of view - at least as good as reusable glass bottles. It is ahead of single-use plastic bottles, even if they are recycled largely and contain recirculates. As expected, this assessment was not shared by all market participants. The transfer of distribution data error was the starting point for critical comments from reusable business circles and the USA Environmental Aid. To counter the factual and methodological criticism and make the results more transparent, the study's final report was revised on the recommendation of the Federal Environment Agency. This was presented at the end of 2020. This essentially confirms the results of the pilot study from 2018.

What was investigated?

The Custom Packaging USA minimum requirements stipulate that all market-relevant packaging within a beverage segment with a market share of more than five percent must be examined. Therefore, the client of a life cycle assessment cannot choose which packaging to compare with. As part of the current study, reusable glass bottles were compared with non-returnable PET bottles and beverage cartons in the fresh milk, long-life milk, and fruit juice segments.

From the cradle to the grave

The English term "Life Cycle Assessment" (LCA) clarifies what life cycle assessments are all about. The entire life cycle is considered: From manufacture to disposal or recycling, environmental impacts are recorded. Not only the production of the packaging is examined carefully; the manufacture of the preliminary products, in some cases even the auxiliary materials and supplies, and the extraction and provision of raw materials are also accounted for. All necessary transports are also included. At every stage of life, environmental pollution occurs in water, air, and soil. These have to be quantified and evaluated.

Impact categories

All substances released into the environment must be (eco) toxicologically assessed and assigned to certain environmental impact categories. These, in turn, do not all have the same ecological relevance. That is why the USA has arranged the classes according to priorities. 13 impact categories are examined in the life cycle assessments. At the top is the impact of climate change.