Same beverage packaging - different results

The end market and related country-specific factors have an influence on results of packaging life cycle assessments that should not be underestimated

Walter Cicchetti - stock.adobe.com

As one of the world’s leading suppliers, Tetra Pak® provides complete processing and carton packaging systems and machines for beverages, dairy products and food. Comparative life cycle assessments of Tetra Pak® packaging and alternative packaging systems for beverages and liquid foods in various European markets have been carried out in several studies. In addition, the impact category climate change has been considered in further local studies.

In addition to packaging parameters, the end market of the packaged product can also play a major role. This means that the result of the same packaging cannot be transferred to another country due to country-specific parameters. Of course, the amount of packaging, the packaging material and many other factors are also of crucial importance for the results of a life cycle assessment. To investigate the impact of country-specific parameters, all other factors have to be neglected. Therefore, in this article we focus on one specific Tetra Pak® beverage carton, the Tetra Brik Aseptic (TBA) Edge, whose results have been calculated for different markets.

The presented comparison clarifies, that an actually same carton shows different results due to country-specific secondary packaging, electricity mix, recovery, and disposal. Since a large part of the climate impact of beverage cartons results from landfill emissions, markets with a high landfill share (of the landfill/incineration split) accordingly show higher net results than markets with a low or no landfill share and consequently a higher share of incineration. This parameter usually plays a greater role than different electricity mixes or other country-specific peculiarities like the recycling rate. Accordingly, it is recommended to work towards a lower share of beverage and food cartons ending up in landfills.

Summary of six studies:
"The carbon footprint of a Tetra Pak® beverage carton in different markets - What role do country-specific factors play? A summarised comparison from several product life cycle assessments" directly here on ifeu.de.

The individual studies can be found country-specifically on the right under "Further information" or collected at tetrapak.com.