LCA study puts bag-in-box in good light

Via Food Production Daily

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of the bag-in-box packaging format underlines its strong environmental credentials and endorses it as an alternative to conventional packaging formats for wine and liquid foods, claims a European supplier of this type of packaging

Rapak said that it recently commissioned sustainability consultants PIRA to compile an independent report with the specific aim of assessing and comparing the potential life cycle environmental impacts of bag-in-box technology with alternative liquid packaging formats.

Material weight

The study, claims the company, compared 30 different packaging formats over the range of market categories and considered the weight of packaging raw materials as key in terms of impact on distribution.

“As a responsible packaging producer, we need to be aware of and reduce the environmental impact of our products,” said Jean Paul Roosendaal, sales and marketing director for the company.

The LCA technique incorporates the different stages of a product’s life cycle to assess how ‘green’ a product or packaging material is, including raw material extraction, manufacture, transport and usage through to waste processing and disposal.

An inventory is made of each stage in terms of energy and material consumption as well as emissions released into the environment, to determine a packaging material or product’s carbon footprint.

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Informed decisions

“The PIRA report’s conclusion that bag-in-box systems were ‘environmentally competitive’ and in many cases superior to alternative packaging formats in the categories considered has qualified what has long been felt about this packaging medium,” added Roosendaal.

However, he stressed that the purpose of the LCA was not to prove that one packaging format was better than another - “there are too many variable factors for any pack realistically to be able to take that position,” conceded Roosendaal.

But he said that such a study allows its customers to make informed decisions in the selection of packaging for their particular products, adding environmental considerations alongside factors such as packaging performance and consumer requirements.

According to Rapak, the bag-in-box format generates up to five times less waste than rigid containers, thanks to the fact that empty packs collapse fully to reduce space during disposal and, in addition, the cardboard outer is fully recyclable.

Developments

Rapak added that it was continuing to look at developing bag-in-box materials to offer to food and beverage companies for use across the retail and service industry, with water an increasingly important area.

In this continued push for use of the format with waters, the group said it is targeting specific markets such as Northern European, where it says such products are already widely available in five and ten litre sizes.

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Réduire les emballages, une priorité pour une consommation durable

Une majorité de français (60%) considèrent que les enseignes de la distribution ont un rôle très important à jouer dans la protection de l'environnement et que la réduction des emballages est une priorité, selon un sondage publié jeudi.

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Parmi les actions prioritaires pour développer une consommation durable, ils citent la réduction des emballages (79%), les produits recyclables (78%), la suppression des sacs plastiques aux caisses (51%), l'étiquetage énergétique (50%) ou encore les produits régionaux (41%), selon ce sondage réalisé pour la Fédération des entreprises du commerce et de la distribution (FCD) à l'occasion de la Semaine du développement durable dont la 7è édition se tient du 1er au 7 avril.

Pour 94% des personnes interrogées, avoir une consommation durable est "très important" (45%) ou "plutôt important" (49%).

Sondage Opinon Way réalisé du 20 au 23 mars auprès d'un échantillon de 1.061 personnes représentatif de la population française âgée de 18 ans et plus (interrogation en ligne).

(AFP / 26 mars 2009 15h56)

Télécharger les documents joints :

1. Sondage OpinionWay FCD Consommation durable.pdf
2. Dossier de presse.pdf
3. Communiqué de presse.pdf

US demand for green packaging to approach $45 billion in 2013

According to a new study from The Freedonia Group, U.S. demand for green packaging—comprised of recycled content, and biodegradable and reusable packaging—is projected to increase 3.4% annually to $43.9 billion in 2013, using 59 billion lb of material.

Advances for green packaging will be driven by the increased prominence of environmental issues as a result of elevated raw material and fuel costs in the past several years. This has resulted in heightened activity among product manufacturers to make their products and related packaging more environmentally
friendly.

Much of the increased activity in green packaging has been driven by Wal-Mart, which unveiled its Packaging Scorecard in November 2006. The scorecard was implemented in February 2008 and is used by Wal-Mart to evaluate the packaging used by suppliers in terms of its eco-friendliness, including factors that reduce waste as well as packaging and transportation costs.

Fastest gains anticipated for biodegradable plastic, recycled content packaging

The fastest gains are anticipated for biodegradable plastic packaging and plastic recycled content packaging. Growth for biodegradable plastic packaging will be driven by price competitiveness with conventional resins, rapidly expanding capacity and lower pricing volatility than petroleum-based plastic packaging materials. Preventing faster advances will be performance drawbacks, capacity limitations and the lack of consumer composting networks in most areas of the US. The fastest growing biodegradable packaging segments will be cups, plates and bowls; and containers.

Robust growth for plastic recycled content packaging will be aided by more concerted efforts to boost collection volume, an increased focus on the development of food-contact approved resin grades, and further sustainability initiatives by plastic processors and brand owners.

Glass recycled content packaging demand will increase at an above-average pace, reflecting industry efforts to boost recycling rates and incorporate higher levels of recycled content in glass containers.

Reusable packaging is forecast to expand more slowly, resulting from marginal growth for drums based on competition from larger formats such as intermediate bulk containers.

Foodservice, shipping to be fastest growing markets

The largest markets for green packaging are food, consumer products and beverages, which together represented twothirds of total green packaging demand in 2008. However, the fastest growing markets through 2013 will be the foodservice and shipping markets.

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Eco-Fina Bottle™: the Lightest Weight Bottle in the Market

Half-Liter Package Uses 50 Percent Less Plastic, Saving an Estimated 75 million Pounds of Plastic Annually

At a weight of just 10.9 grams, the Eco-Fina Bottle is made with 50 percent less plastic than the half-liter Aquafina bottles produced in 2002, eliminating an estimated 75 million pounds of plastic annually. In addition to light weighting the half-liter bottle, Aquafina is driving additional environmental benefits by producing the Eco-Fina Bottle right at Aquafina purification centers where filling occurs and by eliminating cardboard base pads from Eco-Fina Bottle 24-packs, which will contribute to saving 20 million pounds of corrugate by 2010.

Press Release

Oxo-Biodegradability and Biodegradability

Deux documents récents à partager avec vous…

Le premier publié dans Bioplastics Magazine (01-09, Vol.4). Il s’agit d’une revue sur les plastiques biodégradables : Sorting Through Facts and Claims.

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Biodegradability is an end-of-life option for single use disposable, packaging, and consumer plastics that harnesses microbes to completely utilize the carbon substrate and remove it from the environmental compartment – entering into the microbial food chain.

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Le second, publié par le Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI). Il s’agit d’un condensé des commentaires du BPI concernant les additifs biodégradables utilisés pour accélérer la « biodégradation » des plastiques pétrochimiques : Background on Biodegradable Additives.

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Testing has shown that in arid climates with sunlight and high heat, oxo-biodegradable additives will accelerate the fragmentation of traditional polymers. Data has shown that fragmentation can be achieved in 2 to 3 months. However, fragmentation is not a sign of Biodegradation and there is no data to show how long these plastic fragments will persist in the soils or marine environments. Further, data has shown that moisture will retard this fragmentation process for months or longer.

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Recyclable Barrier Coatings Offer Alternative

The environmentally-friendly coatings can be used to replace wax boxes.

A number of factors have combined to create renewed interest in recyclable barrier coatings as an alternative to waxed boxes and for other applications of paperboard packaging.

OCC is in tight supply and increasing in price due to export demand for new mills in China and Vietnam. Walmart’s “Packaging Scorecard” is providing incentives to develop recyclable packaging materials. Tipping fees for non-recyclable waste going to landfill or incinerators is increasing. As much as 10 percent of a supermarket company’s profits can be spent separating non-recyclable waxed boxes and other non-recyclable packaging materials.

Read full article

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Obama : Emballages de mauvais goût à relents racistes

Obama ice cream leaves bad taste

Tender, juicy Obama Fingers

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ConAgra Foods first company in the world to use recycled PLA shrink film

ConAgra Foods announced today that it is the first company to utilize a new shrink film that contains more than 50 percent post-industrial recycled material, reducing landfill waste, greenhouse gases, and energy consumption. The new technology is a recycled Polylactic Acid (PLA). The new shrink film will be used for tamper evident seals on ConAgra Foods’ table spreads – Fleischmann’s®, Blue Bonnet® and Parkay® - and for printed shrink labels for multi-packs of the company’s Reddi-Wip® whipped topping and PAM® cooking spray.

The new material has several advantages over traditional shrink films:

• It is manufactured using corn, a renewable resource. Traditional shrink films are petroleum-based.
• It contains more than 50 percent post-industrial recycled content, meaning that more than half the material that would traditionally be sent to landfills is now being diverted into a value-added end product.
• It produces less greenhouse gases than traditional shrink films; this means ConAgra Foods is reducing greenhouse gas production by approximately 592,000 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents, the same as taking about 48 cars off the road per year.
• It requires less energy at ConAgra Foods’ manufacturing facilities, reducing the temperature necessary to shrink the material by approximately 20 percent.
• It provides a higher-quality finished product due to an improved shrink performance.

“This conversion to a new shrink material is one of many steps ConAgra Foods is taking in our continued commitment to innovation and sustainable business,” said Gail Tavill, vice president of Sustainability at ConAgra Foods. “We’re positively impacting the environment, reducing waste and eliminating the need for more than 400,000 pounds of petroleum-based material by replacing it with a material made from a renewable –resource—corn.”

The new technology was developed in partnership with Plastic Suppliers, Bluepack, and NatureWorks LLC. The company’s conversion to the new material will divert more than 350,000 pounds of non-renewable Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and more than 50,000 pounds of Polyethylene Terephthalate Glycol (PETG) from the company’s raw material stream annually.

Source: ConAgra Foods, Inc.

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Nano sensors for rapid detection of Salmonella in food

Nanoscale sensors have been emerging as a feature of recent nanotechnology applications for food safety and quality measurement. Scientists are using nanotechnology for a rapid detection of Salmonella in foods. Here are two recent scientific findings:

• Dutch Bionanotechnology Centre for Food and Health Innovations used nanoparticles to build devices that sense the DNA of microbes such as Salmonella or Listeria (CBC, March 2009). Read more…
  

• US Department of Agriculture’s Research Service (ARS) and University of Georgia developed a nanorod-based biosensor that enables rapid detection of the Salmonella pathogen with high sensitivity. The sensor include fluorescent organic dye particles attached to Salmonella antibodies; the antibodies latch onto Salmonella bacteria and the dye lights up like a beacon, making the bacteria easier to see. (Food Production Daily, January 2009). Read more…

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Une bouteille de vin écolo en plastique

Via Le Monde

A première vue, rien ne distingue cette bouteille de vin d'une autre. La Maison Joseph Mellot, installée à Sancerre depuis François Ier, a adopté le plastique (PET) au lieu du verre pour le conditionnement de sa cuvée Destinéa (cépage sauvignon) à destination de l'Europe du Nord, où l'on est attentif à la protection de l'environnement. Le PET ou polyéthylène téréphtalate permet d'obtenir une bouteille qui pèse dix fois moins qu'une bouteille classique : 54 grammes, contre 500 grammes minimum. Ses atouts : 68 % d'économie de CO2 (bilan carbone) avant l'embouteillage en raison d'un moindre besoin d'énergie pour la fabrication, réduction de la consommation de carburant pour le transport, aucune casse possible, qualité environnementale (100 % recyclable) et, bien entendu, aucune incidence sur le goût et l'évolution du vin, car la bouteille protège le breuvage des UV et est en plus hermétique à l'oxygène.

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