Evaluation of the environmental impact of portion bag for food packaging: a case study of Thailand

7th International Conference on Environment and Industrial Innovation

生态环境科学;工业技术

Ruangrit, Chaniporn^1 ; Usapein, Parnuwat^2 ; Limphitakphong, Nantamol^3 ; Chavalparit, Orathai^1,3

Department of Environmental Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

10330, Thailand^1

Rattanakosin College for Sustainable Energy and Environment, Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin, Nakorn Pathom

73170, Thailand^2

Research Unit of Environmental Management and Sustainable Industry, Faculty of Engineering, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok

10330, Thailand^3

关键词: Bag production;    Environmental performance;    Ethylene production;    Food packaging;    Life Cycle Assessment (LCA);    Natural gas drilling;    Non-renewable energy;    System boundary;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/67/1/012001/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1755-1315/67/1/012001

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

This study applied life cycle assessment methodology in evaluating environmental impact of portion bag. The objective of this study was to identify the hotspot of environmental impact through life cycle of portion bag. The options were proposed for improving environmental performance of the product. The system boundary was defined as cradle-to-grave which included the ethylene production, LDPE and LLDPE resins production, portion bag production, disposal, and transportation. All materials and emissions were calculated based on 1 piece of portion bag which weighed 2.49 g. IMPACT 2002+ was used for assessing environmental impact on SimaPro V8.2 software. The result found that the most of environmental impact was generated from LDPE and LLDPE resins which was used as raw material for producing portion bag. After normalization, non-renewable energy showed the highest potential to concern. This impact related directly to the natural gas drilling, ethane production, ethylene production, resin productions, and energy in all process. In conclusion, it should be suggested that the selection of bio-material for producing portion bag can play an important role to reduce the environmental impact. The research demonstrates the possible way and benefits in improving cleaner raw material and suitable way of product's end-of-life for producing green portion bag in the future.