Lecture 8 : Sustainability design principles and life cycle assessment (LCA) Flashcards
5.1. Basic concepts of sustainable packaging
What are the 3 main components of sustainable packaging? Explain.
- Time and perpetuality → sustainable packaging should meet the needs of present and future generations
- Striking a balance between meeting the needs of society, economy and the environment → sustainable packaging should meet the needs of society, economy and environment equally, without tradeoffs in either aspect
- Packaging functions → packaging should have some useful functions (containment, convenience, protection, communication) for it to be considered sustainable
5.2. Development of sustainable packaging
What are some useful guidelines for developing sustainable packaging? [4]
Think in terms of environment, society and economy
- Right amount of packaging (minimal but adequate), to meet safety, quality and market needs.
- Eliminate toxic constituents (e.g. plasticisers) wherever possible and use energy-efficient tech
- Alternative materials (renewable, recyclable) materials without compromising product safety and quality (society) and greately increasing cost (economy)
- Life cycle assessment to aid in development of sustainable packaging
Mnemonic : REAL
Environmental issues related to packaging
What are the 3 main issues related to food packaging?
- Solid waste (landfill)
- Hazardous / toxic compounds
- Ozone depletion
5.3. Environmental issues related to packaging
An issue related to food packaging is hazardous materials. Explain the harmful effects of these materials on the environment / safety :
1. PVC
2. Plasticisers
- When PVC is incinerated (burned), it releases dioxins, a class of highly toxic chlorinated hydrocarbons
- Plasticisers are small chemical additives that can migrate into the surrounding water bodies in the environment or migrate from packaging into food ;; which may pose potential carcinogenic effects
5.3. Environmental issues related to packaging
What has been a solution to overcome the issue of PVC being a hazardous compound? (PVC containers)
PVC containers are replaced by PET / PE containers
5.3. Environmental issues related to packaging
Explain how the manufacture of packaging materials leads to ozone depletion and harmful effects of ozone depletion.
In the past, chlorinated fluorocarbons (CFCs) were widely used in many applications, incl the manufacture of food packaging materials like polystyrene. CFCs deplete the ozone layer, causing UV rays to penetrate into Earth and cause disease such as skin cancer.
But now CFCs no longer used in industrialised countiries
5.4. Packaging waste management
What are the 4 different waste management strategies?
- Reduce, reuse, recycle (3R) → for paper & cardboard, glass, aluminium and plastic
- Composting
- Incineration → burning waste
- Landfill → for waste that cannot decompose, cannot be recycled / reused
5.4. Packaging waste management
What is the difference in which compostable and biodegradable materials degrade?
- Compostable materials : decompose under certain conditions (temp, humidity, microbes) in a fixed amount of time
- Biodegradable materials : materials that decompose naturally in any environment, with no strict regulation on time required for it to decompose
5.4. Packaging waste management
What is the difference in the end products of compostable and biodegradable materials ?
- Compostable materials decompose into to become a pile of nutrient rich soil (with the help of specific microbes)
- Biodegradable materials breaks down into smaller pieces, and may leave harmful microplastic residues / toxic residues
5.4. Packaging waste management
All biodegradable materials are compostable. True or False?
false. Not all biodegradable materials are compostable ;; but all compostable materials are biodegradable
5.4. Packaging waste management
What is the difference between bio-based and petroleum-based plastics?
- Bio-based plastics are plastics derived from renewable sources (can be regenerated within short period of time), such as plant-based sources such as starch and cellulose → microbes feremnt these plant based materials to form monomers (e.g. lactic acid) which then undergo polymerisation to form plastics
- Fossil based plastics are plastics made from non-renewable sources such as fossil fuels (take thousands of years to form) → fossil fuels are cracked into fractions, and lighter fractions (ethane etc) are used as monomers to polymerise into plastics
- Examples of fossil fuels : natural gas, petroleum
5.4. Packaging waste management
What happens to waste in a landfill?
The waste just stays there without decomposing; it is just buried
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
What is life cycle assessment (LCA)?
It is a systematic approach for evaluating and minimising adverse impacts of packaging on the environment.
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
What are the 4 main phases in LCA?
- Define scope of assessment
- Inventory analysis
- Impact assessment
- Interpretation of results
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Step 1 of LCA : defining scope of asessment
What4 aspects are covered when defining the scope of LCA assessment?
**1) Define package and related processes **
- functional unit of package : 1kg? 100g of package?
- packaging types to be compared
- related processes : energy input, solid waste, water emissions, transport….
2) Establish context in which assessment is made
3) Identifying boundaries
- cradle-to-gate, cradle-to-grave, cradle-to-cradle
4) Define environmental impacts to be reviewed
- CO2 emission? Ozone depletion?
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
What are the 3 types of LCA assessments (boundaries) and what do they mean?
- Cradle-to-gate : assess from raw material extraction to manufacturing of packaging
- Cradle-to-grave : full life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal of packaging
- cradle-to-cradle : full life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal of packaging + recycling / reuse at end of life → circular econoy approach
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Step 2 : inventory analysis
What is the main purpose of inventory analysis ?
Identifying and quantifying energy and raw material usage, solid waste disposal and pollutant emissions
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Step 2 : inventory analysis
What kinds of activities are involved when conducting inventory analysis? [4]
- Creating process flow diagrams (to visualise raw materials, process and outputs)
- Designing data colletion plans
- Collecting and evaluating data
- Reporting results
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
In analysing 4 types of packaging, the variables / elements incude :
- amount of tin in packaging (g)
- amount of copper in packaging (g)
- natural gas energy consumption (kWh)
- electricity energy consumption (kWh)
- CO2 emission per can / bag of coffee (g)
……. [and many others]
It is often difficult to compare so many different variables across different packaging types due to their differing units. How is the data subsequently treated and analysed, in comparing the impact across different packaging types?
For each packaging, values from all variables are normalised into consistent unit, millipoint
1) Using a specialised software, the amount / quantity of each parameter is multiplied by an indicator values.
- table of Indicator values for : production of metals (steel, tin, copper) , production of plastics, production of energy, transport (aircraft, truck, train)
2) The millipoints for each parameter is summed up → total millipoints for packaging material
Across all packaging materials
3) A graph of millipoints against packaging type is plotted, where each bar is split into different environmental and human health effects based on what the software calculates (e.g. greenhouse effect, ozone depletion, carcinogenic….)
4) Compare millipoints across 4 packaging. The higher the milllipoints, the worse the environmental impact
5.5. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Step 4 : intepretation
What is involved during the intepretation step in LCA? [4]
1) Results from inventory analysis are analysed and evaluated to select preferred products / processes with least overall adverse environmental impacts
May also include
2) Identifying significant issues (solid waste and resource depletion) by reviewing data / information from first 3 phases of LCA
3) Establishing the confidence in and reliability of results
4) Reporting results and make recommendations
Tutorial : additional info
What is the difference between carbon neutrality vs net zero?
- Carbon neutrality : when CO2 emissions into atmosphere = CO2 absorbed from atmosphere by carbon sinks
- Net zero : similar to carbon neutral but includes all greenhouse gases, such as NO2, CH4
