The demands of consumers for sustainable packaging are becoming louder and louder. The industry is therefore challenged to replace pure plastic packaging with fiber-based mono and composite packaging.
Paper and cardboard seem to be the optimal alternative. This is because well-developed recycling infrastructures exist for them. In addition, fiber-based packaging is partially biodegradable. This neglects the fact that the actual recyclability of fiber-based packaging in reality often differs greatly from the theoretical recyclability due to the design or contamination by food. Many packages ultimately end up neither in recycling nor in anaerobic digestion.
Due to this development, Lea Schneider, an intern at realcycle GmbH, is writing her bachelor's thesis on this topic for the environmental engineering course at the ZHAW. Lea Schneider is supported by realcycle GmbH as an industry partner with expertise and contacts to relevant actors in the industry.
For the assessment of food packaging in Switzerland, the bachelor thesis combines the method of life cycle assessment and the measurement of the actual recyclability. The recyclability is measured for the current time and for a future scenario in which a Switzerland-wide expansion of the recycling infrastructure is assumed. If the packaging studied is capable of packaging food of the same type, a tipping point analysis is performed to determine the impact of the food waste rate. This is because packaging that helps to minimize food waste could still be more beneficial ecologically, even if its own impact on the environment is greater.
The bachelor thesis will provide a comprehensive recommendation on which materials should be preferred for food packaging.
The work should be as practical as possible and address current industry issues.
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