The environmental performance of food packaging products in the EU
A study to understand the current state of affairs
The results of the exhaustive study “Exploring the environmental performance of alternative food packaging products in the European Union” have been recently published by JRC – Joint Research Centre. The JRC provides independent and evidence-based knowledge and science to support positively impacting EU policies and evaluates the environmental impacts of single use and reusable packaging products used in the HoReCa sector, such as cups, trays, beverage containers etc.
The aim of the research is aligned with the EU’s goals of reducing the impact of packaging waste, in line with the ambition to transition to a circular economy: this was possible through the analysis of data from six case studies, categorised in four scenarios.
Single use paper packaging has a lower impact on climate change
EPPA (European Paper Packaging Alliance), partner of Burgo Group, summarised some of the study’s key factors, dividing them into take-away and dine-in evidence.
Take-away packaging
One of the most important factors in favour of single use packaging in takeaways is its lower impact on climate change, as shown by the results of the study’s “Scenario 1”. The scenario sums up the carton board impact in single and multiple uses for cold or hot beverages served in a container at the point of sale.
In the case of the climate change impact category, single use paper-based packaging products showed lower impact in the majority of the cases, especially in the “Mineral and metals resource use”, “Fossils resource use” and “Ecotoxicity freshwater” categories.
These data support a full removal of mandatory reuse targets on paper-based food and beverage packaging for takeaway (the European Parliament position is already requesting the removal).
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Dine-in packaging
In examining the immediate consumption (dine-in) data the JRC reports shows that, taking into account up-to-date carton manufacturing data, even a 50% recycling rate is enough to make single use packaging better than reusable packaging in terms of climate impact.
This data supports the Amendments to Article 22 (Annex V) of the European Parliament, which aims to delete the bans on single use packaging for the HoReCa sector. Or, at least, to introduce a horizontal derogation if the HoReCa operator can collect for recycling 85% of single use paper-based packaging.
Significative results
The Life Cycle Assessment results revealed that the performance of the packaging products varied, depending on several factors and the Environmental Footprint impact category evaluated.
A further examination, involving the use of different life cycle datasets for carton board manufacturing, highlighted the large influence of these datasets on the final LCA results for single use packaging.
In particular, when considering life cycle datasets for carton boards with low environmental impact, the performance of single use packaging was clearly better, especially for the Water Use impact category.
The detailed report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) is not definitive, but it provides crucial insights for the paper industries and all companies involved in the paper production supply chain. These findings are instrumental in guiding future decisions and innovations, ensuring that food packaging in the EU aligns with sustainable and environmentally friendly practices.