Overview
Climate change is driven by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions like carbon dioxide (COâ), methane (CHâ), and nitrous oxide (NâO). LCA helps track these emissions, from the extraction of raw materials to production, use, and disposal. These processes include raw material production, container manufacturing, delivery to a food service facility, use, washing (for reusable products), waste collection, landfilling, incineration, sorting, reclamation, and recycling. This provides a clear picture of a productâs contribution to climate change and enables efforts to reduce carbon footprints.
Packaging material
The choice of packaging material is important. Materials with the highest Global Warming Potential (GWP) are generally those that require significant amounts of energy during extraction, processing, and manufacturing, and those that rely on fossil fuels for production. Some materials with particularly high GWP are metals, plastics, and glass.
Packaging system
The choice of packaging system also affects the climate impact of food packaging solutions. For single-use packaging, most greenhouse gas emissions are associated with the production phase, and the ability of recycling at end-of-life to prevent the use of virgin materials. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with a reusable product are highly correlated to the energy and resource intensity required for production and cleaning, its weight in combination with the mode and distance it is transported, and the ability of recycling at end-of-life to prevent the use of virgin materials. Unlike single-use products, reusables require additional transport and washing cycles that should be considered to minimize climate impacts.
