IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v11y2019i19p5324-d271063.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Meat Trays Made of Various Packaging Materials

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Maga

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT, Osterfelder Strasse 3, 46047 Oberhausen, Germany)

  • Markus Hiebel

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT, Osterfelder Strasse 3, 46047 Oberhausen, Germany)

  • Venkat Aryan

    (Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT, Osterfelder Strasse 3, 46047 Oberhausen, Germany)

Abstract

In light of the debate on the circular economy, the EU strategy for plastics, and several national regulations, such as the German Packaging Act, polymeric foam materials as well as hybrid packaging (multilayered plastic) are now in focus. To understand the environmental impacts of various tray solutions for meat packaging, a comparative environmental assessment was conducted. As an environmental assessment method, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied following the ISO standards 14040/44. The nine packaging solutions investigated were: PS-based trays (extruded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene with five-layered structure containing ethylene vinyl alcohol), PET-based trays (recycled polyethylene terephthalate, with and without polyethylene layer, and amorphous polyethylene terephthalate), polypropylene (PP) and polylactic acid (PLA). The scope of the LCA study included the production of the tray and the end-of-life stage. The production of meat, the filling of the tray with meat and the tray sealing were not taken into account. The results show that the PS-based trays, especially the mono material solutions made of extruded polystyrene (XPS), show the lowest environmental impact across all 12 impact categories except for resource depletion. Multilayer products exhibit higher environmental impacts. The LCA also shows that the end-of-life stage has an important influence on the environmental performance of trays. However, the production of the trays dominates the overall results. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis illustrates that, even if higher recycling rates were realised in the future, XPS based solutions would still outperform the rest from an environmental perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Maga & Markus Hiebel & Venkat Aryan, 2019. "A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Meat Trays Made of Various Packaging Materials," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-18, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:19:p:5324-:d:271063
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5324/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/19/5324/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    2. Trevor Zink & Roland Geyer, 2017. "Circular Economy Rebound," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 21(3), pages 593-602, June.
    3. Marie Kampmann Eriksen & Anders Damgaard & Alessio Boldrin & Thomas Fruergaard Astrup, 2019. "Quality Assessment and Circularity Potential of Recovery Systems for Household Plastic Waste," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 156-168, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Diana Reinales & David Zambrana-Vasquez & Aitana Saez-De-Guinoa, 2020. "Social Life Cycle Assessment of Product Value Chains Under a Circular Economy Approach: A Case Study in the Plastic Packaging Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-17, August.
    2. Deniz Turkcu & Nina Tura & Ville Ojanen, 2022. "A Conceptual Framework of the Sustainability Challenges Experienced during the Life Cycle of Biobased Packaging Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Rebecca Mort & Erin Peters & Greg Curtzwiler & Shan Jiang & Keith Vorst, 2022. "Biofillers Improved Compression Modulus of Extruded PLA Foams," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-12, May.
    4. Ana Fonseca & Edgar Ramalho & Ana Gouveia & Filipa Figueiredo & João Nunes, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of PLA Products: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-19, August.
    5. Umair Tanveer & Shamaila Ishaq & Tifany Oqueli, 2023. "An Insight into the Application of Gradations of Circularity in the Food Packaging Industry: A Systematic Literature Review and a Multiple Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Markéta Šerešová & Vladimír Kočí, 2020. "Proposal of Package-to-Product Indicator for Carbon Footprint Assessment with Focus on the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-17, April.
    7. Luca Di Paolo & Simona Abbate & Eliseo Celani & Davide Di Battista & Giovanni Candeloro, 2022. "Carbon Footprint of Single-Use Plastic Items and Their Substitution," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-16, December.
    8. Macarena Beltran & Benny Tjahjono & Anna Bogush & Jorge Julião & Evandro L. S. Teixeira, 2021. "Food Plastic Packaging Transition towards Circular Bioeconomy: A Systematic Review of Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-24, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monia Niero & Charlotte L. Jensen & Chiara Farné Fratini & Jens Dorland & Michael S. Jørgensen & Susse Georg, 2021. "Is life cycle assessment enough to address unintended side effects from Circular Economy initiatives?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(5), pages 1111-1120, October.
    2. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    3. Leandro Javier Llorente-González & Xavier Vence, 2019. "Decoupling or ‘Decaffing’? The Underlying Conceptualization of Circular Economy in the European Union Monitoring Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-21, September.
    4. Chembessi Chedrak & Gohoungodji Paulin & Juste Rajaonson, 2023. "“A fine wine, better with age”: Circular economy historical roots and influential publications: A bibliometric analysis using Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy (RPYS)," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(6), pages 1593-1612, December.
    5. Elena Aurelia Botezat & Anca Otilia Dodescu & Sebastian Văduva & Silvia Liana Fotea, 2018. "An Exploration of Circular Economy Practices and Performance Among Romanian Producers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-17, September.
    6. Hervé Corvellec & Alison F. Stowell & Nils Johansson, 2022. "Critiques of the circular economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(2), pages 421-432, April.
    7. José María Martín Martín & Sara Calvo Martínez & José Manuel Guaita Martínez & Domingo Enrique Ribeiro Soriano, 2022. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Qualitative analysis on the driving force behind upcycling practices associated with mobile applications: Circular economy perspective," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 647-661, December.
    8. Jin Xijie & Gwang-Nam Rim & Chol-Ju An, 2023. "Some Methodological Issues in Assessing the Efforts for the Circular Economy by Region or Country," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, July.
    9. Florian Hofmann & Melanie Jaeger‐Erben, 2020. "Organizational transition management of circular business model innovations," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2770-2788, September.
    10. Sina Leipold & Anna Petit‐Boix & Anran Luo & Hanna Helander & Machteld Simoens & Weslynne S. Ashton & Callie W. Babbitt & Alba Bala & Catharina R. Bening & Morten Birkved & Fenna Blomsma & Casper Boks, 2023. "Lessons, narratives, and research directions for a sustainable circular economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(1), pages 6-18, February.
    11. Julian Kirchherr & Andrea Urbinati & Kris Hartley, 2023. "Circular economy: A new research field?," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(5), pages 1239-1251, October.
    12. John Rincón-Moreno & Marta Ormazabal & Maria J. Álvarez & Carmen Jaca, 2020. "Shortcomings of Transforming a Local Circular Economy System through Industrial Symbiosis: A Case Study in Spanish SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-18, October.
    13. Ungerman Otakar & Dědková Jaroslava, 2021. "Current Implementation of the Circular Economy in Enterprises in the Czech Republic," Review of Economic Perspectives, Sciendo, vol. 21(2), pages 189-210, June.
    14. Miha Dominko & Kaja Primc & Renata Slabe-Erker & Barbara Kalar, 2023. "A bibliometric analysis of circular economy in the fields of business and economics: towards more action-oriented research," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(7), pages 5797-5830, July.
    15. Ahmadova, Gozal & Delgado-Márquez, Blanca L. & Pedauga, Luis E. & Leyva-de la Hiz, Dante I., 2022. "Too good to be true: The inverted U-shaped relationship between home-country digitalization and environmental performance," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    16. Tomasz Rokicki & Aleksandra Perkowska & Bogdan Klepacki & Hubert Szczepaniuk & Edyta Karolina Szczepaniuk & Stanisław Bereziński & Paulina Ziółkowska, 2020. "The Importance of Higher Education in the EU Countries in Achieving the Objectives of the Circular Economy in the Energy Sector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Lahcen, Bart & Eyckmans, Johan & Rousseau, Sandra & Dams, Yoko & Brusselaers, Jan, 2022. "Modelling the circular economy: Introducing a supply chain equilibrium approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    18. Bauwens, Thomas & Hekkert, Marko & Kirchherr, Julian, 2020. "Circular futures: What Will They Look Like?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    19. Armaghan Chizaryfard & Paolo Trucco & Cali Nuur, 2021. "The transformation to a circular economy: framing an evolutionary view," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 475-504, April.
    20. Clube, Rebecca K.M. & Tennant, Mike, 2020. "The Circular Economy and human needs satisfaction: Promising the radical, delivering the familiar," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:19:p:5324-:d:271063. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.