LCA Study
Global
Polyamides and Intermediates
LCA Mozzarella Packaging
Life Cycle Assessment on a mozzarella cheese packaging's entire life cycle
To better understand the environmental impacts of both the packaging format as well as the raw material source within a mozzarella packaging’s entire life cycle, BASF conducted a study with Südpack and Sphera.
BASF’s sustainable mass-balanced polyamides Ultramid® Ccycled®, produced by using chemically recycled feedstock, or Ultramid® BMBcert, produced by using renewable feedstock, were examined in the mix with polyethylene.
The results demonstrate that significantly lower environmental impacts, primarily resulting in a reduction of CO2 emissions, can be achieved by using flexible multi-layer packaging with a large share of chemically recycled or renewable raw materials.
LCA Study
Methodical Approach
LCIA methodology
Environmental Footprint (EF 3.0) assessment method published by the European Commission
Packaging Formats
Flexible multi-layer packaging
Rigid tray + lid film
Raw Materials
Base Case Chemically recycled* PA6 + conventional** PE
Alternative 1 Chemically recycled* PA6 + chemically recycled* PE
Alternative 2 Biomass-balanced* PA6 + conventional** PE
Alternative 3 Conventional** PA6+ conventional** PE
* via mass balance approach
** conventional = based on fossil raw materials; the pictures are illustrating the packaging format, in fact real supermarket-retailed mozzarella packagings were purchased, examined and used for this study.
Results
The rigid tray packaging system shows the highest potential environmental impacts in all categories
Explanations
Nearly 3-fold use of raw materials in the production of the rigid tray packaging (2.41 kg/FU for flexible vs. 7.25 kg/FU for rigid packaging)
* Climate change impact category assessed based on the IPCC characterisation factors taken from the 5th Assessment Report for a 100-year timeframe (incl biogenic CO2, incl Land Use Change)
Results
- The conventional packaging (Alternative 3) shows a significantly higher climate change impact vs. packaging containing chemically recycled* PA6 (Base Case)
- Increasingly lower environmental impacts can be achieved using flexible multi-layer packaging with a high share of chemically recycled* raw materials (Alternative 1)
- Climate change impact reductions for packaging containing chemically recycled* raw materials are mainly caused by the upstream system expansion
* via mass balance approach
** chemically recycled; conv. = conventional
