The Significance of Environmental Attributes As Indicators of the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Packaging and Food Service
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The Significance of Environmental Attributes as Indicators of the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Packaging and Food Service Ware Final Report Prepared by Franklin Associates, a Division of Eastern Research Group, for with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Materials Management Section August 2018 Materials Management 700 NE Multnomah Portland, OR 97232 Phone: 503-229-5696 800-452-4011 Fax: 503-229-6762 Contact: Minal Mistry DEQ is a leader in restoring, maintaining and enhancing the quality of Oregon’s air, land and water. The Significance of Environmental Attributes as Indicators of the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Packaging and Food Service Ware Jorge Vendries1, Troy R. Hawkins1, Troy Hottle1, Janet Mosley1, David Allaway2, Peter Canepa2, Jonathan Rivin2, and Minal Mistry2, * 1Franklin Associates, a Division of Eastern Research Group 2Oregon Department of Environmental Quality *Corresponding author: [email protected] Cite as: Vendries J, Hawkins TR, Mosley J, Hottle T, Allaway D, Canepa P, Rivin J, Mistry M. ‘The Significance of Environmental Attributes as Indicators of the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Packaging and Food Service Ware.’ State of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Portland, Oregon. 2018. Documents can be provided upon request in an alternate format for individuals with disabilities or in a language other than English for people with limited English skills. To request a document in another format or language, call DEQ in Portland at 503-229-5696, or toll-free in Oregon at 1- 800-452-4011, ext. 5696; or email [email protected]. Contents Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Glossary of Terms ........................................................................................................................... 1 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................. 4 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Goal and Scope ........................................................................................................................... 7 The Life Cycle of Packaging ...................................................................................................... 8 The Life Cycle of Food Service Ware ........................................................................................ 8 Recycled Content ........................................................................................................................ 9 Recyclable ................................................................................................................................. 12 Biobased .................................................................................................................................... 14 Compostable ............................................................................................................................. 15 Life Cycle Assessment .............................................................................................................. 16 Plastic Pollution in Marine Environments ................................................................................ 20 Method .......................................................................................................................................... 21 Literature Reviews .................................................................................................................... 21 Recycled Content ...................................................................................................................... 22 Recyclable ................................................................................................................................. 23 Biobased .................................................................................................................................... 24 Compostable ............................................................................................................................. 24 Food Service Ware .................................................................................................................... 25 Creating Comparisons from the Literature ............................................................................... 25 Packaging Results ......................................................................................................................... 27 Recycled Content ...................................................................................................................... 27 Recyclable ................................................................................................................................. 37 Biobased .................................................................................................................................... 53 Compostable ............................................................................................................................. 64 Food Service Ware Results ........................................................................................................... 78 Recycled Content ...................................................................................................................... 78 Recyclable ................................................................................................................................. 79 Biobased .................................................................................................................................... 83 Compostable ............................................................................................................................. 88 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 92 References ..................................................................................................................................... 94 The Significance of Environmental Attributes as Indicators of the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Packaging and Food Service Ware Glossary of Terms Acidification The acidifying potential resulting from acid rain caused by inorganic Potential air emissions. Avoided Burden End-of-life allocation method that assigns the benefits of material Allocation (0/100) recycling to products recycled at end-of-life and does not give credits Method for use of recycled content. Biobased Products derived from plants and other renewable agricultural, marine, and forestry materials (USDA 2018). Board Heavy, plant fiber-based, rigid material. Chemical recycling The process of reacting plastics to break them down into monomers or other basic chemicals which can be repolymerized into new plastics or used for other purposes. Comparative Toxic Estimate of the potentially affected fraction of species integrated over Unit time and volume (Fantke 2017). Compostable Materials that degrade by biological processes to yield carbon dioxide, water, inorganic compounds, and biomass at a rate consistent with biodegradation of natural waste while leaving no visually distinguishable remnants or unacceptable levels of toxic residues (ASTM International 2012). Corrugated Material consisting of a fluted corrugated sheet and one or two flat Cardboard linerboards. Cradle-to-cradle Term used in life cycle assessment to specify a life cycle system boundary where the last step in the life cycle is a recycling process. Cradle-to-gate Term used in life cycle assessment to specify the system boundary of a partial life cycle assessment including processes from resource extraction (cradle) to the factory gate, before the product is delivered to a consumer. Cradle-to-grave Term used in life cycle assessment to specify a life cycle system boundary where the last step in the life cycle is disposal. Downcycling The recycling of waste where the recycled material is of lower quality and has a different function than the original material. 1 The Significance of Environmental Attributes as Indicators of the Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Packaging and Food Service Ware Ecotoxicity Ecosystem toxicity; the potential of chemicals to cause toxic effects on organisms, often measured in terms of effects on aquatic species. Effects are measured in terms of equivalency to the toxic effects of a benchmark environmental pollutant or in terms of comparative toxic units (CTUe) when calculated using the USEtox LCIA method. Endpoint impact An effect on human health, ecosystem quality, or resource availability directly experienced by a person or organism. Examples of endpoint impacts commonly measured in LCA studies are human health effects measured in disability adjusted life years, ecosystem quality effects measured in partially disappeared species over an area-year, or economic effects measured as the increased cost associated with extracting scarce resources. Eutrophication The potential of nutrient releases to cause harmful acceleration of Potential biological productivity in an ecosystem. Calculated at the midpoint level in terms of benchmark nutrient pollutants such as nitrogen or phosphate. Fossil Energy Use of scarce fossil fuel resources measured in megajoules or Depletion kilograms oil equivalents. Global Warming