Evaluating the sustainability impacts of packaging: the plastic carry bag dilemma

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used by practitioners and policy-makers to help them understand the sustainability impacts of packaging. LCA is useful because it quantifi es the impact of a product throughout its life cycle, from raw materials extraction through to disposal or recovery. However, it can only ever be one input to decisions about the design or procurement of packaging. LCA has limitations as a tool to measure environmental impact and it does not currently evaluate social or fi nancial impact. This paper provides a critical review of the role of LCA in evaluating packaging sustainability. It does this by evaluating the results of LCA studies that compare different types of carry bags and their implications for policy and practice. The benefi ts and limitations of this type of analysis are discussed. The case study of plastic carry bags demonstrates that while a scientifi c understanding of life cycle impacts is essential to support informed decision-making, a broader sustainability analysis is required to ensure that all relevant issues are considered. These include the functionality of alternative bags, their relative cost, convenience for consumers and retailers, and the availability of reuse and recovery systems. An alternative approach, which evaluates packaging design within a broader sustainability framework, is presented and discussed.

Desired, Perceived, and Achieved Sustainability: Trade-Offs in Strategic and Operational Packaging Development

“…Even when sustainability is a main project driver, the analysis shows trade-offs between sustainability considerations and other product characteristics. Substantive trade-offs-addressing the contents of the development process [60]-are a fundamental element in development processes [25,62,75]. However, this research shows that sustainability is not an equally important substantive trade-off in development processes; it is currently merely regarded as an add-on to existing product-packaging development aspects, with a limited impact on decision-making processes.…”

“…A generally applicable definition of sustainable packaging is difficult to identify [25,26]. Well-established are the definitions by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) [27] and the Sustainable Packaging Alliance [28].…”

Eco‐efficient Value Creation: An Alternative Perspective on Packaging and Sustainability

“…The standard scientific approach of this subject is through life cycle assessment (LCA). 4,5 For examples of case studies on reducing the ecoburden, see Singh et al 6 and Bovea et al.…”

“…5 There are also alternative eco-burden indicators (often based on LCA) that have been tuned more to packaging optimization in business practice (e.g. see Wever, 8 Svanes et al 9 and Wever et al).…”

Bags for Life: The Embedding of Ethical Consumerism

“…James and Grant (2003) and Lewis, Verghese and Fitzpatrick (2010) found that polymer-based 'bags for life' have lower environmental impacts than all types of singleuse bags. Furthermore, they point out that degradable single-use bags have similar greenhouse and water pollution effects to traditional single-use (non-degradable) bags.…”