Determination of the most environmentally friendly packaging for peach during transportation by modeling the relationship between food loss reduction and environmental impact

Abstract

Packaging decreases food losses during transportation and the loss-related environmental load. However, excessive packaging can increase the environmental load for package production. We assessed environmental impacts throughout the peach life cycle and predicted the relationship between food loss reduction via packaging and environmental impact with certain models. Life cycle assessment was employed to evaluate the environmental loads from peach cultivation and package production to waste management. The relationships for certain impact categories indicate that the minimization of food losses did not necessarily lead to a minimization of environmental loads. This highlights the importance of assessing both food loss reduction and environmental influence in producing environmentally optimized packaging. A reusable plastic box and single-use cardboard box were compared on an environmental basis. The environmental loads throughout the life cycle were nearly similar between these two packaging conditions because the environmental load of reusable box production was lower but the associated food loss ratio was higher.