Abstract
PurposePharmaceutical and biological materials require thermally controlled environments when being transported between manufacturers, clinics, and hospitals. It is the purpose of this report to compare the life cycle impacts of two distinct logistical approaches to packaging commonly used in cold chain logistics and to identify the method of least environmental burden. The approaches of interest are single-use packaging utilizing containers insulated with either polyurethane or polystyrene and reusable packaging utilizing containers with vacuum-insulated panels.MethodsThis study has taken a cradle-to-grave perspective, which covers material extraction, manufacture, assembly, usage, transportation, and end-of-life realities. The functional unit of comparison is a 2-year clinical trial consisting of 30,000 individual package shipments able to maintain roughly 12 L of payload at a controlled 2–8 °C temperature range for approximately 96 h. Published life-cycle inventory data were used for process and material emissions. A population-centered averaging method was used to estimate transportation distances to and from clinical sites during container use. Environmental impacts of the study include global warming potential, eutrophication potential, acidification potential, photochemical oxidation potential, human toxicity potential, and postconsumer waste.Results and discussionThe average single-use approach emits 1,122 tonnes of CO2e compared with 241 tonnes with the reusable approach over the functional unit. This is roughly a 75 % difference in global warming potential between the two approaches. Similar differences exist in other impact categories with the reusable approach showing 60 % less acidification potential, 65 % less eutrophication potential, 85 % less photochemical ozone potential, 85 % less human toxicity potential, and 95 % less postconsumer waste. The cradle-to-gate emissions of the single-use container were the overwhelming cause of its high environmental burden as 30,000 units were required to satisfy the functional unit rather than 772 for the reusable approach. The reusable container was about half the mass of the average single-use container, which lowered its transportation emissions below the single-use approach despite an extra leg of travel.ConclusionsThe reusable logistical approach has shown to impose a significantly smaller environmental burden in all impact categories of interest. A sensitivity analysis has shown some leeway in the degree of the environmental advantage of the reusable approach, but it confirms the conclusion as no case proved otherwise.
Highlights
Responsible editor: Hans-Jürgen GarvensElectronic supplementary material The online version of this article contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.K
The life-cycle analysis performed in this study has identified which logistic approach to cold-chain shipments will incur the least potential impact to the environment
The reusable logistical approach utilizing VIP insulation and PCM heat sinks has substantially exceeded the environmental performance of the single-use approach in all metrics studied in this paper
Summary
Responsible editor: Hans-Jürgen GarvensElectronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11367-013-0668-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.K. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11367-013-0668-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. The demand for thermally controlled logistics is growing in response to emerging pharmaceutical and biological markets serving an aging population. These critical activities invariably require transport between many geographically separated locations. A thermally controlled environment is required during transport in order to maintain the physical and chemical viability of the payload. This situation necessitates innovative packaging and transportation means, which contribute
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