Search

Purpose: Pulp and paper manufacturing constitutes one of the largest industry segments in term of water and energy usage and total discharges to the environment. More than many other industries, however, this industry plays a key role in sustainable development because its most important raw material, wood fiber, is renewable Dias and Houtman (Environ Prog 23(4):347-357, ). Actually, even if the communication is dominated by electronic media, paper-based communication has a role to play due to its unique practical and aesthetic qualities. This research aims to assess the environmental impact of advertising folders produced with different papers and distributed by a system of Italian consumers' cooperatives in order to indicate the possible options of improvement and to assess the CO emitted during the entire life cycle. Methods: Life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed from cradle-to-grave considering paper production, transport from paper mill to printing site, printing, distribution, and disposal. Data for the study were directly collected from specific companies and completed on the basis of literature information. The analysis was conducted using the SimaPro 7.1.5 software and IMPACT 2002+ method to assess all its environmental impact and damage categories. Results and discussion: LCA analysis indicates that the higher environmental impact is mainly due to paper production and printing processes. The main operations which generate the major impact in the paper production stage are related to the direct or indirect fossil energy use, the production of additives for bleaching operations, and the collection and selection of waste paper. Printing causes relevant impacts for the electricity and ink production and for the aluminum plates used in the offset printing. Moreover, the use of paper with low quantity of additives and small amount of primary fibers causes a reduction of the environmental load of 13.94 %. The major global warming potential value was found for advertising folders made with little amount of mechanical pulp which slightly contributes to the absorption of CO. Conclusions: The analysis pointed out the relevance of the paper production phase and of the printing step within the advertising folders life cycle and allowed to detect the other critical stages of the life cycle. Paper composition greatly affects the environmental impact of the advertising folders' life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background, aim, and scope Packaging uses nearly 40% of all polymers, a substantial share of which is used for sensitive merchandise such as moisture-sensitive food. To find out if bio-based materials are environmentally advantageous for this demanding application, we compared laminated, printed film across the whole life cycle. Materials and methods We compared bio-based materials (paper, polylactic acid, bio-based polyethylene, and a biobased polyester) as well as conventional ones (polypropylene, polyethylene). Data stemmed from13 companies that produce raw materials, films and/or laminates and which co-operated with us in a project commissioned by a large food producer. The functional unit chosen for this study is 1 m2 of packaging film. This is (mostly) laminated, printed film that is delivered on reels to the food industry, where the laminate is cut, sealed and filled. The impact assessment is presented for non-renewable energy use, total energy use, global warming potential, depletion of abiotic resources, photo-oxidant formation, acidification, eutrophication, water use, and land use. Results For Inner Packs that get in direct contact with food and therefore require certain barrier properties, the environmental performance of many laminates is not better than the reference, petrochemical material. However, our study shows that paper/polypropylene laminates perform equally well as the current material (polypropylene) if the material is landfilled, and better if incinerated with energy recovery. For Outer Packs, bio-based polyethylene film shows a particularly low environmental impact. Paper/bio-based polyester laminates also offer significant savings compared with the current material. For Inner as well as Outer Packs, laminates including polylactic acid offer environmental advantages when accounting for wind credits or when assuming a future technology level for polymer or film production. Discussion Increased technology maturity of PLA and cellulose in the film production stage offers significant environmental improvement with respect to global warming potential compared with today's technology. Though large, the uncertainty regarding the degree of degradation of paper, cellulose, PLA and bio-based polyester, is not decisive for the conclusions. Conclusions and recommendations Generally, laminates and films (partly) consisting of bio-based polymers offer opportunities for significantly reducing environmental impacts of food packaging. Large variations in land-use are possible depending on the type of bio-based material that is used. The environmental advantages differ depending on the polymer and the final product (Inner vs. Outer Pack). Lack of experience and investment in converting bio-based polymers into final products and comparatively unfavourable material properties result in lower environmental advantages for some novel bio-based materials than one may expect. However, a) already today, the options with the lowest global warming potential are partly or fully bio-based and b) bio-based materials will benefit more from technological progress than conventional materials, potentially making certain bio-based laminates highly attractive options for the future. Overall, Outer Packs are more promising than Inner Packs when introducing bio-based wrappings to replace the current petrochemical material because a) the opportunities are clearer for this application and b) the product specifications (required barrier properties) are less demanding. Starting with the Outer Packs would also allow bio-based polymer producers and processors to invest and learn, thus offering the opportunity to reduce the environmental impact even further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal, Scope and Background. The environmental sustainability is one of the current priorities of the Portuguese pulp and paper industry. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was the methodology chosen to evaluate the sustainability of the printing and writing paper production activity. This paper grade represents about 60% of the total production of paper in Portugal and its production is expected to increase in the near future. The main goal of this study was to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the entire life cycle of the printing and writing paper produced in Portugal from Eucalyptus globulus pulp and consumed in Germany, in order to identify the processes with the largest environmental impacts. Another goal of this study was to evaluate the effect on the potential environmental impacts of changing the market where the Portuguese printing and writing paper is consumed: German market vs. Portuguese market. Methods. The main stages considered in this study were: forestry, pulp production, paper production, paper distribution, and paper final disposal. Transports and production of chemicals, fuels and energy in the grid were also included in these stages. Whenever possible and feasible, average or typical data from industry were collected. The remaining data were obtained from the literature and specialised databases. A quantitative impact assessment was performed for five impact categories: global warming over 100 years, acidification, eutrophication, non-renewable resource depletion and photochemical oxidant formation. Results. In the German market scenario, the paper production stage was a remarkable hot spot for air emissions (non-renewable CO2, NOx and SO2) and for non-renewable energy consumption, and, consequently, for the impact categories that consider these parameters: global warming, acidification and non-renewable resource depletion. These important environmental impacts are due to the energy requirements in the printing and writing paper production process, which are fulfilled by on-site fuel oil burning and consumption of electricity from the national grid, which is mostly based on the use of fossil fuels. The pulp production stage was identified as the largest contributor to water emissions (COD and AOX) and to eutrophication. Considering that energy consumed by the pulp production processes comes from renewable fuels, this stage was also the most contributing to renewable energy consumption. Discussion. The paper distribution stage showed an important contribution to NOx emissions, which, however, did not result in a major contribution to acidification or eutrophication. The final disposal stage was the main contributor to the photochemical oxidant formation potential due to CH4 emissions from wastepaper landfilling. On the other hand, paper consumption in Portugal was environmentally more favourable than in Germany for the parameters/impact categories where the paper distribution stage has a significant contribution (non-renewable CO2, NOx, non-renewable energy consumption, acidification, eutrophication and non-renewable resource depletion) due to shorter distances needed to deliver paper to the consumers. For the remaining parameters/impact categories, the increase observed in the final disposal stage in the Portuguese market was preponderant, and resulted from the existence of significant differences in the final disposal alternatives in the analysed markets (recycling dominates in Germany, whereas landfilling dominates in Portugal). Conclusions. The pulp and paper production stages were found to be of significance for almost all of the inventory parameters as well as for the impact assessment categories. The paper distribution and the final disposal stages were only of importance for some of the inventory parameters and some of the impact categories.… [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to Portuguese printing and writing paper in order to compare the environmental impact of the use of two kinds of fuels (heavy fuel oil and natural gas) in the pulp and paper production processes. The results of inventory analysis and impact assessment show that the pulp and paper production processes play an important role in almost all of the analysed parameters, which do not always result in an important contribution to the corresponding impact categories. The substitution of heavy fuel oil by natural gas in the pulp and paper production processes seems to be environmentally positive. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]