Comparison among packaging materials by LCA method

摘要

In Japan, packages account for about 60% of total general waste by volume. You see many kinds of containers in this market, such as PET bottles, steel cans, aluminum cans, glass (returnable and one-way) and paper containers. To reveal which packages are more environmentally friendly, we studied the LCA on the beverage packages using published data. This was done under the leadership of Dr. Yasui University of TOKYO. We determined the recycle and the waste scenario of each packages with the present data. As a result, returnable glass bottles with five and twenty trips and paper cartons showed the lowest environment loads among the packages. Other disposable containers showed similar results and higher environmental loads than returnable glass containers and paper cartons. This project was only the start line of the comparison among the packages. We expect further data will be available on each container and that results of analysis will be much more practical.