Packaging Life Cycle Research Articles

Accounting the Impacts of Waste Product in Package Design

In Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), packaging has been considered environmentally damaging due to its material use and issues with disposal at the end of it life. Consumers’ relationship with packaging is short-lived with the focus of desire being the product contained in the package, and once received the packaging is no longer required and is in certain circumstances a waste management issue. Packaging designers however have long since known the function of the packaging is to deliver the product to the consumer is such a way that the product is protected and possibly enhanced. However, to date packaging design tools which evaluate the environmental performance of packaging design have ignored the product delivery function, or at least considered it to be equivalent in all cases. The packaging quick evaluation tool (PIQET) is expanding its evaluation to incorporate product production impacts, product loss and the disposal of product loss into the life cycle of packaging. As a screening tool, it is not practical to include detailed LCAs of all products, however using environmentally extended input output data to ratio product to packaging impact, it is possible to provide sufficient guidance to the packaging designer as to the benefits or high quality packaging design. This paper presents a case study application of this approach as a proof of concept to its value in the environmental assessment of packaging design.

Current Situation and Reflection on Metal Packaging Waste Recycling

Metal packaging waste accounts for about 10% of total packaging waste and possesses the quality of high resource-consumption and high environmental pollution. This paper presents: 1) the design of the production process, based on the core of easy recycling in the metal packaging life cycle; 2) improve the legal framework, strengthen publicity and management, further refine metal packaging waste classification, encourage people participate in recycling through interest, set up model demonstrations; 3) through scientific and technological innovation, advance recycling level to improve the current situation of low recovery, low utilization level.

Integrating Design for Assembly Guidelines in Packaging Design with a Context-based Approach

In the product lifecycle, the packaging, as an object, has been on the back burner with respect to product and production systems design and some authors stated that its influence starts at the packing stage and ends when the customer obtains the product.Only a few years ago, its strategic role, protecting, containing and preserving the product, has been recognized, both in theory and in practice [1]. In this way, the packaging design has been focused in the accomplishment of some specific objectives, such as cost and space saving, material reduction, and quality problems avoidance. These approaches are object-related, but the design process is not considering that the packaging is also utilized to handle, transport, distribute, retail and promote the product. Therefore, even if mathematical solutions could be obtained for space optimization problems, these could not be relevant at industrial level since they are unfeasible throughout the packaging lifecycle, from either logistics or quality standpoints; and new restrictions should be considered.An approach proposed by Lee & Lye [2], called “Design for manual Packaging (DFPkg)”, is based on Design for the Environment (DFEnv) and Design for Assembly (DFA) guidelines, since the activities related with packaging could be considered as assembly activities seeing that all the packed pieces are part of a unique system. Nevertheless, some guidelines from DFA are omitted or decontextualized and they are not connected to restrictions in the mathematical models.This paper presents an integral approach for packaging design, complementing the guidelines proposed by Lee & Lye [2] in key contexts of the packaging lifecycle, in order to generate restrictions for an optimization model. Besides, this approach has been validated with a real industrial case study where the obtained solution is compared with the current one.

Life cycle assessment of a packaged tomato puree: a comparison of environmental impacts produced by different life cycle phases

Abstract This study aims to assess the life cycle of tomato puree production by considering the impacts related to the phases of cultivation, processing, packaging and transport, in order to identify potential improvements for each stage of its life cycle. The case study involves companies in the tomato supply chain in northern Italy, with 700 g tomato puree packaged in a glass jar as a reference product. All the operations related to cultivating tomatoes are considered: land preparation, production and transplanting of tomato seedlings, fertilization, watering and harvesting. Each step of the post-harvesting processing is examined, including: unloading, washing and selection of tomatoes, blenching, concentration, pasteurization, filling, packaging and storing. All transport involved in the entire supply chain of this product is accounted for. The life cycle of glass jars, caps and secondary packaging is further evaluated. Primary data are gathered from farmers and a processing company located in the region of analysis, whilst Ecoinvent database v2.2 is used as source of secondary data. The assessment is performed using the CED, CML 2001 and ReCiPe methods. The water footprint for both the cultivation and the processing phase is evaluated too. The results show that packaging is the main cause of environmental impacts, and this is due particularly to the high energy demand for its production. Tomato cultivation phases have a higher environmental impact than the puree processing in most of the impact categories considered, and transport contributions show significant values too. Finally several possible improvements, such as reduction of glass weight, logistic and energy optimization, are analysed. The use of lighter primary packaging material appears to be the option with the largest environmental benefits for environmental sustainability within the whole supply chain.

Life Cycle Assessment-based method of Excessive Commodity Packaging on Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction

Based on a Life Cycle Assessment model, the effect of the whole life cycle of excessive commodity packaging on the environment was analyzed by eBalance Evaluation LCA software from production through circulation. The cost evaluation system and environment impact model of its three main processes, that is, material production, product machining and waste manufacturing, were established to identify the main environmental impact corresponding indicators and the influence on energy conservation and emissions reduction of excessive packaging life cycle. And packaging of moon-cakes was taken as an example to analyze the difference between the ordinary packaging and excessive packaging of moon-cakes in terms of life cycle assessment and costs analysis. Meanwhile some measures are put forward to conserve energy and reduce emissions.

Functional requirement specification in the packaging development chain

As it is clear that the full packaging life cycle – at least partially – coincides with the product life cycle, both cycles are interwoven. Each has a network of functional requirements, with specific hierarchic propensities. These networks overlap, with prevailing hierarchies playing important roles in combined product/packaging development cycles. This publication describes the role of functional requirements in the complex context of product/packaging life cycles and shows ways to adequately uncover functional requirement specifications besides, or even instead of, technical specifications. A working method is presented, guiding product/packaging development cycles based on structured functional hierarchies. The applicability of the method is shown in a case study.

411. Creation of Novel Lentiviral Vectors That Co-Package Anti-HIV Ribozymes with HIV-1

During the life cycle of HIV, dimerization and packaging of two copies of viral genomic RNA is mediated via the dimerization/packaging signal (the ψ sequence), located within the 5′ end of the viral genomic transcripts downstream to the primer-binding site and within the gag-coding region of the viral RNA. Dimerization results in co-localization of two viral genomic sequences with both the cell and the virion. It has been shown that dimerization and subsequent virion packaging of dimerized RNAs could be used as a means of co-localizing the ribozyme and target RNAs within the virion and the cell to increase the ribozyme cleavage efficiency.

Using LCA to examine greenhouse gas abatement policy

The site-generic approach currently adopted by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology introduces uncertainties into the impact assessment phase of an LCA study. These uncertainties are greatest for localised and short-lived problems but are less significant for long lasting, cumulative environmental effects. Indeed, the reliability of LCA results is high for problems that manifest at a global scale. Nevertheless, even though these results are considered accurate, it is still often unclear as to their relevance in terms of policy development and decision-making. Therefore, this paper demonstrates how LCA can be used to determine the efficacy of policies aimed at reducing a product system’s contribution to global environmental problems. We accomplish this aim by presenting a case study that evaluates the greenhouse gas contributions of each stage in the life cycle of containerboard packaging and the potential impact on emissions of various policy options available to decision makers. Our analysis showed that in general the most useful strategy was to recycle the used packaging. However, our analysis also indicated that when measures are taken to eliminate sources of methane emissions and encourage the use of plantation timber then recycling is no longer beneficial from a greenhouse perspective. This is because the process energy required in the form of gas and electricity is substantially greater for containerboard manufactured from recycled material than it is for virgin fibre.

Use of life cycle assessment in environmental management.

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to develop strategic policies that can lead to a minimization of the environmental burden resulting from the provision of services or the manufacture, use, and disposal of products within the economy. We accomplish this aim by presenting a case study that evaluates the greenhouse gas contributions of each stage in the life cycle of containerboard packaging and the potential impact on emissions of various policy options available to decision-makers. Our analysis showed that, in general, the most useful strategy was to recycle the used packaging. However, our analysis also indicated that when measures are taken to eliminate sources of methane emissions, then recycling is no longer beneficial from a greenhouse perspective. This is because the process energy required in the form of gas and electricity is substantially greater for containerboard manufactured from recycled material than it is for virgin fiber.

Vinyl—a new blow molding polymer

AbstractVinyl is used in a wide range of applications, not only in packaging but also in construction, automotive, and other areas. Vinyl (polyvinyl chloride, or PVC) has maintained a significant presence in some markets for more than 30 years. Yet vinyl is not necessarily on the downward leg of its product life cycle. New, more effective PVC blow molding compounds are being developed and introduced. These versatile new polymers are extending the life cycle of vinyl packaging into the 21st century. The long‐standing success of vinyl in bottle applications is due to a number of key properties, including its chemical resistance, UV stability, low mold costs, design flexibility, low permeability, and aesthetics. In recent years, improved PVC compounds have created new growth markets for vinyl. Three important ones are hot‐fill applications, personal care products, and bottled water. The potential of vinyl bottles to become a major factor in the fast‐growing bottled water market is a particularly good example of the adaptability and versatility that make vinyl one of the most exciting “new” blow molding polymers.