Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of various Cup Systems for the Selling of Drinks at Events Focussing on major events such as the European Football Championships UEFA EURO 2008TM in Austria and Switzerland as well as the German “Bundesliga” Expertise provided by: Österreichisches Ökologie-Institut, Carbotech AG and Öko-Institut e.V. Deutschland Vienna, Basel, Darmstadt 24th September 2008 Authors: DI Christian Pladerer, DI Markus Meissner, Austrian Institute of Ecology, Vienna, Austria Dr. Fredy Dinkel, Dipl. sc. nat. Mischa Zschokke, Carbotech AG, Basel, Switzerland DI Günter Dehoust, Dr. Doris Schüler, Öko-Institut e.V., Freiburg/Darmstadt/Berlin, Germany On behalf of: BMLFUW (Austrian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Environment and Water Management) as well as BAFU (Swiss Federal Environment Authority) Supported by: German federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Plant Safety as well as the following cities/countries: Basel - Bern - Hanover - Klagenfurt (Kärnten) - Salzburg - Vienna - Zurich Imprint DI Christian Pladerer Dr. Fredy Dinkel DI Günter Dehoust Österreichisches Ökologie-Institut Carbotech AG Öko-Institut e.V.; Büro Darmstadt: Seidengasse 13 Eulerstrasse 68 Rheinstraße 95 A-1070 Vienna CH-4051 Basel D-64295 Darmstadt Austria Switzerland Germany Phone +43 (0) 699 1523 61 01 Phone +41 (0) 6120695 22 Phone +49 (0) 6151 8191 38 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.ecology.at www.carbotech.ch www.oeko.de Note: All terms that are used in this document (e.g. “operator”, “client”, “host”, etc.) have been kept in neutral gender for the purpose of easy readability, but apply nevertheless to both the male and female gender. Page 2 of 137 Table of contents 1 SUMMARY........................................................................................................................... 5 2 INITIAL SITUATION.......................................................................................................... 13 3 LITERATURE RESEARCH FOR THE COMPARISON OF DRINKING CUPS ............ 15 3.1 Principles of the comparability and meaningfulness of LCAs ......................................................... 15 3.2 Publications for the comparison of cup systems ..............................................................................16 3.3 Results and quotations .......................................................................................................................... 17 3.4 Summary of the literature research...................................................................................................... 19 4 QUALITY CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE USE OF DRINKING CUPS......................... 21 4.1 Safety considerations for the use of drinking cups........................................................................... 21 4.1.1 Functions fulfilled by drinking cups ............................................................................................. 21 4.1.2 Safety rules for football championships...................................................................................... 22 4.1.2.1.1 Preliminary comments regarding the FIFA Football World Cup 2006™ in Germany ........... 22 4.1.2.1.2 Safety regulations for UEFA EURO 2008™.................................................................................................................. 23 4.1.3 Austrian events laws.................................................................................................................... 25 4.1.4 Swiss events laws........................................................................................................................ 26 4.2 Biodegradable plastic materials for use as drinking cups: compostability and gene technology considerations .......................................................................................................................... 27 5 METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH............................................................................... 30 5.1 Quantitative ecological assessment ............................................................................................. 30 5.2 Problem and general conditions........................................................................................................... 32 5.3 System boundaries................................................................................................................................. 33 5.4 Functional unit.................................................................................................................................. 34 6 FACTUAL BALANCE ....................................................................................................... 35 6.1 General conditions for EURO, divisional operations (Bundesliga) and public viewing ........ 35 6.2 Characterising the examined systems................................................................................................. 38 6.3 Important influencing factors................................................................................................................ 39 6.3.1 Development levels of cup systems............................................................................................ 39 6.3.2 Cup utilisation .............................................................................................................................. 39 6.3.3 Transport...................................................................................................................................... 40 6.3.4 Circulation cycles......................................................................................................................... 42 6.3.5 Domestic use of reusable drinking cups..................................................................................... 43 6.4 Scenarios for disposable cups ............................................................................................................. 47 6.4.1 Scenarios for disposable PS and PET cups............................................................................... 48 6.4.2 Scenario for disposable cups that are coated with cardboard................................................... 49 6.4.3 Scenarios for disposable PLA cups ............................................................................................ 50 6.4.4 Scenarios for disposable cups made of BELLAND® material ................................................. 52 Page 3 of 137 6.5 EURO scenarios for reusable PP cups ................................................................................................ 54 6.5.1 Scenario for reusable PP EURO cups with branding (souvenir) ................................................55 6.5.2 Scenario for reusable PP EURO cups with branding (souvenir) ................................................56 6.6 Divisional operation scenarios for reusable PP cups ........................................................................58 6.6.1 Scenarios for reusable PP cups for the divisional operations (Bundesliga)...............................58 6.6.2 Scenarios for reusable PP cups for the “Hanover divisional operations” ...................................59 6.6.3 Scenarios for reusable PP cups for the divisional operations (Bundesliga)...............................59 6.6.4 Scenarios for reusable PP cups for “public viewing” (Vienna)....................................................60 7 EFFECTS BALANCE........................................................................................................ 61 8 EVALUATION.................................................................................................................... 63 9 RESULTS........................................................................................................................... 65 9.1 UEFA EURO 2008TM ........................................................................................................................... 65 9.1.1 Assessment according to EBP 2006 and eco-indicator 99 .........................................................65 9.1.2 Assessment according to the UBA method .................................................................................70 9.1.2.2.1 Distance to target (i.e. the environmental objective) .............................................................. 71 9.1.3 Individual assessments for GWP and CED .................................................................................76 9.1.4 Influence of domestic use.............................................................................................................78 9.1.5 Sensitivity assessments ...............................................................................................................79 9.2 German Bundesliga operations and public viewing...........................................................................83 9.2.1 Assessment according to EBP 2006 and eco-indicator 99 .........................................................83 9.2.2 Assessment according to the UBA method .................................................................................85 9.2.3 Individual assessments for GWP and CED .................................................................................86 9.2.4 Sensitivity assessments ...............................................................................................................88 10 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................