Life cycle assessment of fresh pineapple from Costa Rica

Abstract

Costa Rica is the largest exporter of fresh pineapple to US and European markets and production area has tripled since 2002 with associated economic benefits and environmental concerns. A detailed life cycle assessment of fresh pineapple from the farm to retail shelf in the US was performed to characterize the range of environmental performance and identify important sources of environmental impact and opportunities for improvement. Participating producers representing three major production regions and a range of field conditions and management practices provided data to support the assessment. Impacts estimated included energy demand, carbon footprint, stress-weighted water footprint, soil erosion, emergy, human and ecosystem toxicity, and others from TRACI with models customized for Costa Rican conditions. Using the functional unit of 1 serving of fruit for comparative purposes, pineapple likely has a higher energy demand and carbon footprint than common tree fruits such as apples and oranges because it is more input intensive but causes less water stress because of ideal climatic conditions in Costa Rica. The farming stage was the most important source of impacts and thus provides the most opportunities for improvements; packaging was significant due to the packing material, and refrigeration is the primarily contributor to impact during distribution, although it is a small contribution to overall impact. Selecting flat terrain, maximizing the yield:input ratio, packing in reusable cartons without crowns, and using energy-efficient refrigeration can provide significant reduction of measureable impacts, but these need to be considered alongside other impacts such as worker health and site-specific ecological and human risks that are not typically part of LCA. This approach and selected impact indicators provide a model for characterizing environmental performance of other fruits, especially in the humid tropics.