研究資料
各種容器の環境影響評価および環境負荷低減策の調査
キーワード:
Containers,
life cycle impact assessment,
life cycle impact assessment method based on endpoint modeling（LIME2）
2011 年 7 巻 3 号 p. 264-273
詳細
2011 年 7 巻 3 号 p. 264-273
Objective. Find out how containers impact the environment in order to advance containers designs that are friendly to the environment. Approaches for reducing the environmental impact of aluminum cans, PET bottles, and stand-up pouches, using the life cycle impact assessment have been studied.
Results and Discussion. Using the life cycle impact assessment method based on endpoint modeling（LIME2）to evaluate the environmental impact, the system boundary of this assessment includes from the material production phase to the product manufacturing, filling, use, disposal, and recycling phases. The results of the study indicate the following: 1）Aluminum cans have a large impact in terms of CO2 emissions, PM10 and waste. The effective way to diminish this impact is to reduce the quantities of aluminum plates used; however, it could be observed that the reduction of aluminum plate use resulted in increased SO2 emissions. For aluminum cans, we can suppose that a reduction of the volume of plates used should diminish the SO2 emissions as well, inventory data of the aluminum canstock manufacturing needs to be carefully investigated. 2）PET bottles have a large impact in terms of CO2 emissions and SO2 emissions. Reducing energy（electricity）consumption during the conversion process is the effective to reduce this impact. 3）Stand-up pouches have a large impact in terms of CO2 emissions and non-methane volatile organic compounds（NMVOC）. Reducing usage of plastic films and usage of organic solvent for the laminating and printing processes is the effective way to reduce this impact. However, a reduction of plastic films usage should be considered carefully as it reduces the energy recovery quantities and will affect, notably, coal usage.
Conclusions. We demonstrated that each type of container impacts the environment differently; the impact reduction approach will therefore be different. Furthermore, in order to complete the validity of this evaluation, it is necessary to take into account the different filling methods for each type of container.
