Packaging Savings Go Beyond Recycling

Transcription

1 Packaging Savings Go Beyond Recycling Sara Hartwell US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery

2 Why Packaging is Important Packaging protects the product Physically (transportation, retail, home) Chemically (provides barrier to water, O2, CO2, light, etc.) From contamination (contamination of the product and contamination of the environment From loss (theft, spillage)

3 Why Packaging is Important Packaging transfers information Use instructions, dosage, hazards, etc. Some regulatory requirements Packaging facilitates sales Assists with shelf display Attracts buyers

4 Lifecycle Demo on Packaging Evaluated the environmental impacts of packaging fresh tomatoes using life cycle thinking & assessment Examined packaging in the context of it s main purpose product delivery as an integrated system Used an LCA framework to quantify the stages of the product/packaging system s full life cycle 4

5 GHG emissions at each stage loose pkg scenario 5

6 Relative Impact Impacts of Tomato Production & Delivery vs. Packaging Tomato Growing and Transportation to Chicago 100% 90% 80% 70% Normalized Results: Manufacture and End of Life of Three Packaging Types vs. 60% 50% 100% 100% 100% 100% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 35% 27% 29% 22% 16% 18% 20% 13% 14% 16% 15% 12% Global Warming Acidification Respiratory effects Smog Impact Category Tomato Growing & Transport PET Clamshell & Transport PS Tray & Transport Loose & Transport 6

7 Water consumption (lbs. water per lb. of tomatoes) Water Consumption PET Clamshell PS Tray Loose Transport Storage & Retail Packaging Growing 7

8 Why Packaging is Important Packaging protects the product. The economic and environmental investment in the product is almost always larger than the investment in the package If you reduce packaging to the point that you lose product the impact of product loss is likely to outweigh potential savings on packaging.

9 What s the Opportunity in Managing Packaging? Packaging is a large part of the municipal solid waste stream (MSW) Generation of MSW in the US 2009 Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures

10 What s the Opportunity in Managing Packaging? Packaging represents the majority of what we recycle in municipal collection systems Packaging, newspapers and printed paper Packaging represents a diversity of materials Challenges of dealing with new materials

11 Distribution of Materials across Packaging in the US 2009 Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling and Disposal in the United States: Facts and Figures

12 What s the Opportunity in Package Design? Material Weight (source reduction) if you don t use (produce) the material, you don t incur the environmental impacts Water use, land use, releases to air and water, particulates, resource use, GHG if you don t use the material, you don t pay for it

13 What s the Opportunity in Package Design? Material Recycled content it s only recycled when it is used as a manufacturing feedstock Manufacturing products from recycled materials typically requires less energy than manufacturing from virgin materials Use less energy produce fewer GHGs Use less energy spend less $

14 Million Btu / Short Ton of Waste Using Recycled Feedstocks Conserves Energy & Raw Materials 100 Energy Required for Product Manufacture from Virgin and Recycled Inputs - Plastics 75 Embedded Energy 50 Transportation Energy Process Energy 25 0 Virgin Inputs Recycled Inputs Virgin Inputs Recycled Inputs Virgin Inputs Recycled Inputs HDPE LDPE PET

15 Million Btu / Short Ton of Waste Using Recycled Feedstocks Conserves Energy & Raw Materials 250 Energy Required for Product Manufacture from Virgin and Recycled Inputs - Inorganics 200 Embedded Energy 150 Transportation Energy 100 Process Energy 50 0 Virgin Inputs Recycled Inputs Virgin Inputs Recycled Inputs Virgin Inputs Recycled Inputs Virgin Inputs Recycled Inputs Aluminum Cans Steel Cans Copper Wire Glass

16 Bottle Redesign PCR Material Aveda Shampoo increased PCR from 45% to 80% replacing 150 tons of virgin material saved $1 million bottles are 96% percent recycled material caps are 100 % PCR polypropylene.

17 What s the Opportunity in Shape & Volume Package Design?

18 Bottle Redesign - Shape Kraft Salad Dressing 19 percent weight reduction, saving over three million pounds of plastic annually. increases shipping efficiencies by 18%

19 Redesign - Shape & Volume Fresh Step Cat Litter Replaced a polypropylene pail with a flexible bag Reduced packaging weight by nearly 80% Savings in materials, freight and warehousing

20 Redesign - Volume Breyer s Ice Cream Lid redesign, eliminates 24% of resin, the equivalent of 650 tons

21 Redesign - Shape & Volume Suave Kids Reduced plastic resin by 13%, added an extra layer of product per pallet (improved transportation efficiency)