Super Light Returnable Glass Bottles and Life Cycle Assessment
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International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy 2014; 2(5): 153-160 Published online September 20, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijepp) doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140205.12 ISSN: 2330-7528 (Print); ISSN: 2330-7536 (Online) Evaluation about drinking bottle’s reduce and reuse effectiveness: Super light returnable glass bottles and life cycle assessment Shuichi Tamura 1, *, Robert William Marek 2 1Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Japan 2Public Works Department, Sasebo, U. S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Far East, Sasebo, Japan Email address: [email protected] (S. Tamura) To cite this article: Shuichi Tamura, Robert William Marek. Evaluation about Drinking Bottle’s Reduce and Reuse Effectiveness: Super Light Returnable Glass Bottles and Life Cycle Assessment. International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy. Vol. 2, No. 5, 2014, pp. 153-160. doi: 10.11648/j.ijepp.20140205.12 Abstract: "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle are terms which are familiar to us as the "3Rs. " The 3Rs enable us to decrease pollution in the environment. The "Super Light Returnable Glass Bottle " is a light and reusable glass bottle generated by advancements in the technology of glass engineering. By manufacturing and using "Super Light Returnable Glass Bottles " as opposed to other container types, potentially we can reduce up to 80% of CO 2 emissions. This article introduces what "Super Light Returnable Glass Bottles " are, shows how glass bottles are manufactured, and then proposes an approach to promote its use. We show the potential environmental benefits of Super Light Returnable Glass Bottles by conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis for drinking containers. We demonstrate the effectiveness of "Reduce " and "Reuse " in the 3Rs by simulating the change in CO 2 emissions resulting from glass bottle reuse and reduction in glass bottle weight. Keywords: 3R, Super Light Returnable Glass Bottle, Life Cycle Assessment saves the raw materials for glass bottle creation. Weight 1. Introduction reduction of glass bottles and reusing glass bottles leads to 1.1. Introduction to Reduce and Reuse the same effect: they reduce the quantity of raw materials for glass bottle creation and will concurrently reduce the Let us think about returnable bottles. When you return amount of CO 2 emission through the manufactural process. the empty bottles to the store, the store sends the empty CO Reduction CO Reduction bottles back to the manufacturers. The bottles are refilled 2 2 by “Reduce” by “Reuse” and then shipped back to the stores to be sold again, thereby enabling us to conserve resources and reduce wastes. The use of returnable bottles also reduces CO 2 emissions. This research provides an approach to improve Wash for the reduction of CO 2 emissions through the use of Super Reuse Light Returnable glass bottles. Figure 1 demonstrates the concept of this research. The Glass Bottle Lighter with Normal Glass CO 2 reduction by the weight reduction of glass bottles are Weight Bottle demonstrated on the left side, whereas the CO 2 reduction through the reuse of glass bottles is demonstrated on the right side. Regarding the CO 2 reduction by the weight Fill it with reduction of glass bottles, they are created with less amount Beverage of raw materials where additional numbers of glass bottles can be created with the same amount of raw materials. Regarding glass bottle reuse, reusing the glass bottles will Figure 1. Concept for CO 2 Reduction by "Reduce " and "Reuse " 154 Shuichi Tamura and Robert William Marek: Evaluation about Drinking Bottle’s Reduce And Reuse Effectiveness: Super Light Returnable Glass Bottles and Life Cycle Assessment 1.2. Glass Bottle Lightness Index Vale L Lightness Value L = "K×Glass Density, or 4π×(3/4/π) 2/3 ×glass density. " 2/3 Power is represented as As an index which determines the lightness of glass "0.67 ", which is close to "0.77. " The 0.77 is greater than bottles, Japan Glass Bottle Association adopted the glass 2/3 because bottles are not a sphere. Because a glass bottle bottle lightness index value L for use in the glass bottle is not a sphere and the shape of bottles vary, the results of industry [1]. statistical investigation show that 0.77, which is larger than Value L =0.44×Bottle Weight (g)÷Capacity When Full (ml) 0.77 (1) 2/3 (i.e., 0.67) can be substituted in the equation. Manufacturers say that the difficulties with We contacted the Japan Glass Bottle Association and manufacturing the actual glass bottle are as follows: were provided the following historical information about 1. Larger bottles are easy to make light whereas the Value L equation: smaller bottles are hard to make light. "Mr. Eddingston, who worked for Emhart Glass S.A., 2. Bottles with a large neck are hard to make light. proposed it as a glass bottle lightness index in 1976. It is The reason is that weight of a glass bottle is determined said that he collected the information for glass bottle by the type of bottle neck and bottle size. Small size bottles products in the European market at that time and modeled and bottles with a large neck tend to be hard to make light the regression equation from the statistic analysis. Emhart because the bottle neck weight of small size bottles and Glass S.A. and Mr. Eddingston lost the related documents bottles with a large neck need a larger proportion of so details are not clear ". material than that of normal bottles. In the glass bottle industry, glass bottle lightness index value L is now understood in the following way. 2. Method Glass bottle lightness is considered as being proportional to glass bottle thickness. If the thickness value is lower, the We interviewed manufactures of glass bottles on the lightness value is lower too. Therefore the following glass bottle creation process. Regarding reduction, reuse equation holds: and recycling, we interviewed and collected administrative documents from public organizations such as city halls, Glass Bottle Thickness = Glass Volume/Glass Bottle Area (2) nonprofit organizations (NPO), and others. The Life Cycle Given that a bottle is spherical and taking "r " as radius, Assessment for this research is based on "Workshop for the equation to calculate "Glass Volume " is "4/3πr3 ". The Containers’ Comparison, A Report on Comparison of equation for "Glass Bottle Area " is "4πr 2 ". Various Containers by LCA Method 2001 " As for "Glass Volume, " the following equation holds: 3. Results and Discussion Glass Volume =Weight /Glass Density (3) 3.1. Lightness Value L Less than 0.5 Glass Bottle (Super In the equation of "Glass Bottle Thickness " we Light Glass Bottles) substitute "Glass Volume " with "Weight/Glass Density. " We next cancel "r " in "4πr2 " of "Glass Bottle Area " Bottles lighter than Value L 0.7 Glass Bottles were (which is found in the "Glass Bottle Thickness " equation) developed by Toyo Glass Co., ltd. and Nihon Yamamura by substitution. We then rearrange the "Glass Volume " Glass Co., ltd. Toyo Glass Co., ltd. developed glass bottles equation to the "r " equation as follows: with Value L 0.5 while Nihon Yamamura Glass Co., ltd developed glass bottles with Value L 0.6. Glass Volume= 4/3 π r 3 → r = (Glass Volume×3/4/π) 1/3 (4) Glass bottles with value L less than 0.5 are not available 2 on the market, but they are considered as the lightest bottles If we substitute this with "r " in "Glass Bottle Area =4πr in the world. ": As for the name of the light bottles, Toyo Glass Co., ltd. Glass Bottle Area = 4π×(Glass Volume×3/4/π) 2/3 (5) calls glass bottles of Value L less than 0.6 as "Extremely Super Light Bottles " and glass bottles of Value L less than Given that 4π×(3/4/π) 2/3 is K : 0.5 as "Extremely Extremely Super Light Bottles ". Nihon Yamamura Glass Co., ltd. calls glass bottles of Value L 2/3 Glass Bottle Area=K×Glass Volume (6) below 0.6 as "Super Super Light Bottles ". Glass bottles of Lightness Index Value L 0.5 are not on the market, so Japan This is combined with "Glass Volume =Weight/Glass Glass Bottle Association does not give a name to these Density: " bottles. Glass Bottle Thickness = (Weight /Glass Density) /K×Glass Figure 2 shows glass bottles of Value L that are less than Volume 2/3 = Weight /( K×Glass Density )×Glass Volume 2/3 (7) 0.5. Picture is taken at Toyo Glass Co. ltd. The equation above closely corresponds to Glass Bottle International Journal of Environmental Protection and Policy 2014; 2(5): 153-160 155 The Narrow Neck Press and Blow Process is almost the same process as Press and Blow, the difference being the long and thin plunger. With this manufacturing process, we can create Super Light Glass Bottles. 3.3. Returnable Coating: Plastic Coating We next turn to the returnable coating sprayed on returnable bottles, which is a plastic coating used only for returnable bottles. The coating consists of a base layer which is formed of styrene butadiene rubber and a top layer which is formed of urethane resin[2]. It has a buffer effect and anti-shattering effect. According to Toyo Glass Co., ltd., originally the coating was invented Figure 2. Glass Bottle less than Value less than 0.5 for bottles used in vending machines, and then it was applied as a coating for returnable bottles. For the bottle samples shown in the above photograph, In Figure3 (the bottle on the left), we show a bottle before volume when full is 624ml, weight is 160g, and the Glass the plastic coating is sprayed onto it, and on the right we Bottle Lightness Index Value L is 0.496.