CO2 Emissions

The packaging with the least environmental impact

What is Life Cycle Assessment

The LCA – Life Cycle Assessment - is a method for the quantification of potential environmental impacts of a product adopting a life cycle perspective. Specifically, it provides a comprehensive view of environmental interactions that covers a broad range of activities, from the extraction of raw material, the production and the distribution of energy, through the use, and reuse, and final disposal of a product. This analysis, based on four steps, explains the contribution of the life cycle stages to the overall environmental load, with the aim to prioritize improvements on products or processes.

Life-Cycle Assessment of aseptic carton packaging

Recycle process of aseptic carton packaging

Aseptic cartons: among the best environmental sustainable packaging according to LCA analysis

The Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis show that aseptic carton packaging generally presents better performances, if compared for example to PET and glass bottles.

An analysis conducted by the IFEU (Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg, Germany), is based on the study of 22 LCAs, carried out in the European Union, USA, Canada and Indonesia. The LCA studies mainly concerning juice products and milk, comparing the carton packaging with PET and glass bottles.

Impact in climate change

Regarding the impact on climate change, IFEU LCA studies (von Falkenstein, E., Wellenreuther, F., & Detzel, A. 2010) shows that carton packaging has a lower CO2 equivalent emission than PET and glass bottles, with reference to juices and non-carbonated soft drinks.

The result is that, according to IFEU, the potential climatic impact of aseptic cartons is 37 percent lower than reusable glass bottles for fruit juices and 71 percent lower than PET bottles when it comes to UHT milk.

Impact in land use

The LCA analysis also studied the impact on land use (forest). Being made mainly of paperboard, carton bricks require greater use of forests than the other two types of packaging: for this reason our choice is to use paperboard from responsibly managed forests for our packaging material.

Friends of Trees: let's offset CO2 emissions!

For IPI, sustainability means making a concrete commitment in terms of environmental, social and economic responsibility.

This is why we have decided, in collaboration with zeroCO2, to invest in the planting of hundreds of fruit trees in Peté, the northernmost region of Guatemala heavily affected by deforestation, implementing an initiative with a high environmental and social impact.

IPI will donate fruit trees to the most vulnerable rural communities to increase food security of peasant families and giving them the opportunity to generate income by selling fruit at the local markets.

The trees planted will help minimize our company's CO2 emissions even further! In fact, they will help offset the environmental impact of our company fleet!

DISCOVER MORE!

Why carton bricks are such green packaging

IPI is committed to continually improve the environmental performance of its packaging and is aware of the importance of the supply chain in a life cycle perspective. Let’s find out the main aspects that contribute to make beverage cartons an environmental conscious choice.

Lower transport weight: a one-liter beverage brick weighs about 30 grams, while a glass bottle weighs about 380. This entails lower costs and greater efficiencies in terms of storage, palletizing and transport;

Aseptic carton packaging preserves the organoleptic properties of food without the need for refrigeration for up to 12 months, with significant energy savings: in fact, refrigeration accounts for up to 40% of the electrical energy used in a food store. In addition, a refrigerated truck can old up to a maximum of 8,000 one-liter bricks, while a standard truck can hold up to 13,000;

raw materials of aseptic carton packaging

The use of aseptic carton packaging of raw materials whose management is responsible and certified for both paperboard (FSC®), and aluminum (ASI).

IPI converting plant sustainable packaging CO2 emissions

IPI's packaging material converting plant: our actions to cut CO2 equivalent emissions

A packaging is eco-friendly when the impact that its production has on the environment is minimal and sustainable. Aseptic carton bricks are a green packaging already today, as they use sustainable materials, mostly renewable as well as 100% recyclable, and the LCA analyses on CO2 equivalent emissions to have aseptic cartons on the shelves confirm that they are a responsible choice towards the environment.

IPI does more, making sure that the paperboard of our aseptic cartons comes from responsibly managed forests ensuring forestry activities (FSC) and we are ASI Performance Standard certified for the responsible use of aluminium.

When it comes to our packaging material converting plant, we proud ourself to work every day to reduce the potential impact of production on the environment, putting in place concrete programmes which allow us to achieve remarkable results. An example? Compared to 2018, in 2021 we reduced the CO2 emissions per square meter of aseptic packaging material of our Italian converting plant by over 20%!

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