Life Cycle Assessment

a short smart guide

What is a product life-cycle?

Life-cycle assessment

Wastes and
emissions
Raw materials

Human activity

Energy
Products

Why do life-cycle assessment?

Minimize the pollution

Conserve non-renewable resources and

ecological systems

Maximize recycling of materials and waste

Develop and utilize cleaner technologies

Apply the most appropriate pollution

prevention and/or abatement techniques

How can I use LCA?

Manufacturers

Product development

Product improvement

Product comparison

How can I use LCA?

Public policymakers

Environmental labeling

Steps in LCA
1) GOAL AND SCOPE

2) LIFE CYCLE INVENTORY (LCI)

3) LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT

4) INTERPRETATION

LCA OF PACKAGING SYSTEM FOR MILK

UK MARKET ANALYSIS
14 billion litres/year of raw milk

6 billion processed into

liquid milk

LCA OF PACKAGING SYSTEM FOR MILK

1) GOAL AND SCOPE: to assess the potential environmental impact of
different milk container for pasteurised milk
(UK market)
HDPE bottles

Gable-top cartons
Stand-up pouches

Pillow pouches and serving jug

PET bottles

Cartons with screwcap

FUNCTIONS OF THE PRODUCT SYSTEM

Primary functions:
Containment of a certain quantity of product
Preservation and protection
Storage
Enabling loading and transport

Secondary functions:
Information
Image/promotion
Guarantee
Consumer satisfaction

FUNCTIONAL UNIT
The functional unit for this study is typical packaging system for
containing, protecting, storing and transporting 1000
milk to the consumer in the UK

In the market

pints of pasteurised

ANALYSIS OF MILK PACKAGING SYSTEM

SYSTEM BOUNDARIES

SYSTEM BOUNDARIES:
Different waste management options

ALLOCATION
The designation of environmental loads between different parts of a system
Example

1) divide contribution of milk and

packaging during handling

2) divide contribution of milk and

other groceries during
transportation

ALLOCATION OF SECONDARY PRODUCT AND

RECYCLE

Avoided Burdens Approach

CRITICAL POINTS

How to consider the no closed loop recycling?

What is the actual fate of the packaging?
Consider a best case scenario
PET production changes from small to high quantities
Missing data for label and seal of secondary packaging, filling process
Different sources for transportation data
Current waste treatment is a mix of the four ones considered in the study

It is not a comparative assessment!!!

CHANGED THE GOAL AND SCOPE?? YES IT IS!!

INVENTORY ANALYSES
Identification and quantification of relevant inputs and outputs

Raw material
Water
Non renewable CO2 emissions
CH4 emissions
Energy

HDPE BOTTLES
Material analysis

Label - LDPE

Bottle - HDPE

Cap - HDPE

Seal polyolefin foam

aluminium, PET

Material analysis

System boundaries for the HDPE bottle system

Summary life cycle inventory

IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Choice of impact categories

1. Abiotic resource depletion

2. Climate change
3. Photo-oxidant formation
4. Eutrophication
5. Acidification
6. Human toxicity
7. Acquatic eco-toxicity

IMPACT ASSESSMENT RESULTS HDPE

IMPACT ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS

IMPACT ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS

IMPACT ASSESSMENT ANALYSIS

INTERPRETATION

1. For plastic bottles the most important environmental load is production

stage
2. For pouches the most important environmental load is distribution
packagin production
3. For the cartons the most important environmental load is laminate
production
4. Hierarchy: 1minimisation (lightweighting), 2Rec ycling, 3energy
recovery, 4disposal in landfill

5. Bottles to bottles or simply recycling?

CONCLUSION
1. For HDPE bottles the most important environmental load is
production and associated raw material extraction
2. Recycling is the best option as waste managment options.
3. Lightweighting the bottle by 10% shows fewr potential environmental
impacts for all impact categories (es. for climate change and abiotic
resource depletion 5,7% and 7,2% less respectively)
4. Although recycled and lightweighting have been considered
separately, they are not mutually exclusive

LIGHTWEIGHTING

+
MINIMISATION

RECYCLING

WASTE MANAGEMENT

WHAT IS IT?
Waste management is the set of policies,
procedures and methodologies for the
management of waste, from its production until
its final destination.

Ensure that waste, regardless of its final

destination, has a minimal impact on the
environment and on human health.

FOOD PACKAGING INDUSTRY

a industry of one-way products and increasing waste
products!
On the market

Facilities
Consumer

And the empty packaging?

Its time to take some decision!

FACTS AND DATA

80 millions of tons/year!
156 kg/per capita (average)

Quantity of overall packaging waste generated and recycled, kg per capita, 2010

Recycling rate for all packaging, 2010

(2008-targets indicated by bars, 2008-target deadline indicated on x-axis)

Share of treatment for overall packaging waste in Europe

(2010)

Volume of plastic packaging waste generated and recycled, per capita, 2010

Recycling rate for plastic packaging, 2010

(2008-targets indicated by bars, 2008-target deadline indicated on x-axis)

Share of recycling and recovery operation for plastics packaging, EU-15, 2008

EUROPEAN WASTE HIERARCHY

EU Waste Directive 2008/98/CE

PREVENTION
Measures - taking before a substance, material or product becomes waste - which
reduce
the quantity of waste
the negative impacts of the waste product on the environment and human health
the content of dangerous substances in the materials and products

It includes the REUSE of products or components that have not yet

become waste materials and are repeatedly used for the same purpose
as the original are found in this phase.

Actually, the PREVENTION is out

from WASTE MANAGEMENT

EXAMPLES of PREVENTION

Reduction of the quantity of waste

EXAMPLES of PREVENTION
Reduction of the quantity of waste

Less plastic means

weight reduction.

Reduction of cost
transportation
Reduction of CO2 emissions
during transportation

EXAMPLES of PREVENTION
Reduction of the negative impacts of the waste product on the environment
and human health
(Reduction of weight)

BIODEGRADABLE polymers allow for

the use of natural resources and
avoid petroleum waste

Biodegradable materials: materials that eventually break down into CO2,

methane and water through the action of naturally occurring micro-organisms.

BIODEGRADABILITY TEST

Compostability is not a inherent

property of a material but,
eventually, of a product. It
depends on the particular form.

EXAMPLES of PREVENTION
Example of Re-use for the
reduction of the quantity of waste

Now
In the past

RECOVERY PREPARING FOR RE-USE

PREPARING FOR RE-USE

Involves checks, cleaning and repair with which the waste product or
waste product components are prepared in order to allow them to be
re-used without further pre-treatment.

Preparing for re-use is a specific case of RECOVERY

re-use

the material or object

has not become a waste

preparing for re-use

the material or object

has become waste
(especially not-recyclable
materials, now put in landfill)

EXAMPLES of PREPARING FOR RE-USE

EXAMPLES of PREPARING FOR RE-USE

EXAMPLES of PREPARING FOR RE-USE

Restaurant at Vancouver
(Canada)

RECOVERY RECYCLING

RECYCLING
Considered any form of recovery through which waste materials are treated in
order to obtain products, materials or substances that are used in their
original functions or for others.
This includes the treatment of organic material but
not the recovery of energy or treatments to obtain
materials for uses as fuel.
The waste has a useful purpose.

THE RESULT OF RECYCLING IS NOT A WASTE!

Biodegradable and
compostable
products should be
throw away with
organic waste.

They produce compost, fertiliser,

useful for agriculture, gardening,
landfill covering.

Actually, no precise
regulation and legislation
are set on final
destination of
biodegradable and not
compostable products.

EXAMPLES of RECYCLING

Plastic bottles

Recycled flakes

Non woven
filter

EXAMPLES of RECYCLING
Recycled Glass bowl

Countertop from recycled glass

Glass
bottles

RECOVERY OTHER RECOVERY

OTHER RECOVERY
Includes all operations that differ from preparing for re-use and recycling.
It refers specifically to energy recovery and other operations in which the
main result is in serving a useful purpose by replacing other material.
Waste undergoes thermal treatments, a range of processes where high
temperature is used to reduce the volume of waste and to turn it harmless

ENERGY
(electric energy
and heat)

WASTE

THERMAL TREATMENT

Incineration
Pyrolisis
Gasification
.

INCINERATION

The waste is burned in ovens and reduced to ashes of extremely reduced volume (20-30% less
than initial volume); the thermal energy of the fumes that are produced is used to produce
water vapour that, passing through a turbine, generates electric energy.
The quantity of recovered electric energy in comparison with the energy utilised is
rather low (19-25%), while thermal energy is much higher.
Incineration is a process that is the subject of significant controversy connected to the emission of pollutants (dioxin,
furans, etc.), which derive from imperfect combustion within the incinerator.

INCINERATION

PYROLISIS and GASIFICATION

Limited O2

No O2

ENERGY (electric energy)

Waste is not burned but is heated at high temperatures
(from 400 to 1200C depending on the process).
They are based on molecular dissociation and not on combustion

Higher efficiency
Incineration for

Lower impact of gaseous

emissions

DISPOSAL

DISPOSAL
Includes any operation that does not fall under the Recovery macrocategory, even when has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of
substances or energy

Landfilling
Biodegradation of liquid or sludgy discards in soils
Injection of pumpable waste in wells
Salt domes or naturally occurring repositories
Permanent deposit (e.g. emplacement in containers in a mine)
 waste dispersion
 parasite proliferation
 gas production from decomposition (emitting
unpleasant odours, destroys nearby vegetation and
increases the greenhouse effect)
Solutions to minimize that problems (plastic or clay membranes as
containment; extracting and transporting systems for the gases produced
which are then burned and used, for example, for the production of electric
energy).

SUMMING UP

THANK YOU!