Use of packaging with the lowest environmental impact
Exemplos incluem reciclagem, melhorias das embalagens e a recuperação dos descartes para uso em outros processos tais como a geração de biogás.
Role of packaging in improving the sustainability of cheese supply chain - Italy
| Source : Sealed Air Corporation |
Smartlife® Sustainability Consultancy Services has performed a specific life cycle assessment (LCA) at Agriform, an important cheese customer of Sealed Air Corporation, located in Italy. The study looked into the role packaging has in improving the sustainability of hard cheese portion packs along the entire supply chain and highlighted key carbon footprint reduction drivers such as:
- Reduced packaging weight;
- Reduced package volume;
- Allocation of carbon footprint of secondary packaging to more packs per box;
- Allocation of transport emissions to more packs per truck.
In addition, the study identified a significant sustainability “hot spot”, which is the relationship between quantity of grated cheese produced (lower value by-product as a result of chunk production process) and the type of packaging requested by market.
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Arla Foods work with resource efficiency – the case of packaging in Denmark and the UK
| Source : Arla Foods |
- Arla produces about one thousand different types of packaging.
- The Arla ‘Closer to Nature’ initiative requires Arla to reduce the amount of packaging and those used have minimal environmental impact.
- Arla UK plastic milk bottles are made from less plastic than others. They also contain 15% recycled plastic, since October 2010 resulting in a reduction of 4,500 tonnes of virgin HDPE plastic.
- In Denmark, the fact that consumers are selecting (in a trial) the more environmentally friendly Harmonie milk carton will result in a saving of some 4,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
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Use packaging with the lowest environmental impact
| Source : Tetra Pak International |
Tetra Pak offers recyclable packaging benchmarked to achieve lowest environmental impact. Public life cycle analyses (LCAs) show cartons to be among the lowest impact packaging solutions, particularly on global warming.
This reflects their high proportion (73 % on average) of a renewable resource (paperboard) and the recycling of used cartons. The German government classifies cartons as “environmentally advantageous”. See the LCA results on: www.tetrapak.com/environment
To further reduce environmental impact, Tetra Pak seeks to develop packaging made from 100% renewable resources. To increase the renewable content of it’s packaging, the company will launch caps containing renewable polymers made from sugarcane in 2011.
Sustainable sourcing of raw material
| Source : Tetra Pak International |
Sustainable forest management is another key priority for Tetra Pak. We ensure that the paperboard used in our cartons is responsibly sourced and increasingly certified according to the highest standard set by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). See www.tetrapak.com/environment/forestry_and_fsc
In 2010, 40% of Tetra Pak’s paper board supply was FSC™ certified, with 8.5 billion cartons carrying the FSC™ logo. Tetra Pak aims to increase the supply of FSC™ certified paper used in its products to 100%, with an interim target to achieve 50% in 2012. The company works closely with its suppliers and other stakeholders to increase access to FSC™ certified wood fibre.
By the end of 2011 alone, the number of Tetra Pak cartons carrying the FSC™ logo will nearly double from 2010 levels to 16 billion.
Reducing Fluid Milk Packing Material Waste - Punjab, India
| Source : Punjab, India |
Tangible Benefits:
After implementing the project yield loss is 3% i.e. reduction of 5.25%. Total savings from February 2009 to June 2009 are Rs.68,054, and from February 2009 to May 2010 are 3.50 laks or US$7,570.84. (As on 5th August 2008 US$1.00 = 46.23 Indian rupees)
Intangible Benefit:
Team work improved. A sense of achievement has been created amongst team members and other employees of the plant involved in the project. Learnt systematic and structured approach to recognize and solve problems which will be possible to apply to other problems as well. Quality of pouch packing improved and customer satisfaction also increased.
Reducing use of plastics - Canada
| Source : Saputo |
- Through the sustained improvement of techniques and equipment, Saputo aims to produce more, while minimizing waste and maximizing our use of raw materials while maintaining or even improving the quality of our products.
- Among our initiatives, our Canadian fluid milk packaging operations have reduced their use of plastics by optimizing the design of certain bottles and reducing the thickness of the inner milk plastic bags. These changes have resulted in a reduction of high- and low-density polyethylene of 581 metric tons per year, or a 7.7% reduced requirement of plastic on these goods. In the US, we eliminated 59% of our corrugated paper requirement on certain deli-cups by choosing a packaging format that combines corrugated paper pads and low-density polyethylene film while maintaining our product’s integrity
Milk Roadmap recycling of plastics – United Kingdom
| Source : Milk Roadmap - Dairy UK |
Target: 10% recycled plastics in packaging materials
- The processing sector is working towards the target of 10% recycled plastics in milk bottles. As mentioned earlier, Greenstar WES has become the first approved UK based supplier of rHDPE for use in milk bottles, with 2 major dairy companies so far providing approval for the use of 10% of the recycled HDPE to be used in the supply of plastic for use in milk bottles
- Over the next 12 months it is expected that additional dairy companies in the UK will approve the use of rHDPE in milk bottles and the sector is working with plastic reprocessing companies and milk bottle manufactures on gaining approval for the use of rHDPE in milk bottles.
- With additional dairy companies approving the use of rHDPE in milk bottles and the development of additional processing capacity in the UK for the production of rHDPE, it is expected that the industry will meet the target of 10% rHDPE content in milk bottles by the end of 2010
- Continued success in this area will depend upon the growth in doorstep collection of recycled post consumer waste from the doorstep which is being encouraged by DEFRA and WRAP, and needs to be supported by initiatives from Local and National Government
Target Status:
- On target: Should reach 10% incorporation rate for milk bottles by end of 2010
Dairy Crest chases 5,000 tonne reduction in milk packaging waste – United Kingdom
| Source : Dairy UK |
- Dairy Crest has developed a prototype handle-free plastic bottle, which could save the dairy industry 5,000 tonnes of packaging waste each year. The one- and two-pint bottles require 10% less plastic to make than standard bottles.
- Dairy Crest is already supplying Marks and Spencer with milk in HDPE bottles containing 10% recycled plastic.
Milk Link launches recycled cheese packaging – United Kingdom
| Source : Dairy UK |
- Milk Link is now using 23% less primary packaging material on its products, sourcing 25% of packaging from recycled raw material and ensuring that 39% of packaging can itself be recycled. All this is being achieved without compromising pack quality.
- The initiative was trialled at first with Marks and Spencer, but is now being rolled out to other Milk Link customers. All retail cheese will be converted to the new packaging by early 2009.
Packaging improvements - Australia
| Source : Australian Dairy |
National Foods Salisbury installed a shredder that removed liquid from plastic and cardboard. The waste disposal company now accepts this cleaner waste for recycling instead of landfill. The Penrith site installed a bailer, which compacts its cardboard and a bottle crusher to compact plastic waste allowing the site to recycle 95% of its waste cardboard and plastics.
- Similarly, the Campbellfield site recycles 9 tonnes of cardboard per month since installing a compactor and tippler bin hoist. Costing $25,000, it paid for itself in just over a year through reduced landfill charges.
Murray Goulburn (MG) Leitchville uses a carton-less cheese packing process, saving 83 tonnes of cardboard per year. The cheese blocks are transferred into stainless steel hoops to cool, improving their shape and reducing off-cuts during the natural cut process. Depending on customer requirements, these blocks are packaged into either cardboard cartons or bulk bins, or placed directly onto pallets as un-cartoned blocks
- As the customer does not have to de-carton the blocks, it helps MG reach its targets of reduced packaging and improves manual handling. MG saves another 4 tonnes of cardboard a year by changing the Cryovac cheese bag packaging from cardboard to shrink wrap. This reduces the weight of the packaging and the labour time required to transfer cheese bags out of the cardboard and into plastic containers before entering the production area
Australian Dairy Manufacturing Sustainability Report 2007/08
Packaging efficiencies - Australia
| Source : Australian Dairy |
Norco Foods Raleigh saves $25,000 per year by implementing a minor program change to the product fillers. This change flushes pasteurised water through cleaned product lines prior to production and reduces losses during product change over.
National Foods Hobart made alterations to their carton packer to reduce losses. These included:
- Closing the loop on the cooling water of the top press and guide rails instead of the once pass system saves about 3 ML of town water per year.
- Relocating the vacuum pump to reduce pipe work and improve suction, thereby reducing the number of mis-picks by about 50 per day. For every mis-pick, three cartons were removed. Over a year, this saves about 35,000-40,000 cartons.
- Adjusting the magazine carts to allow them to be individually tuned to maximise performance. This provided a noticeable decrease in miss picked cartons.
- Adjusting the filler guides to perform more accurately, reduced the number of damaged cartons per day
Australian Dairy Manufacturing Sustainability Report 2007/08
Resource efficiency - Greece
| Source : IDF National Committee of Greece |
- Increase recycling of packaging: very limited reuse of glass milk bottles have been achieved. However, the main packaging material is paper which is reused as recycled paper.
- Use of packaging with the lowest environmental impact: it has become almost universal the use of paper packaging for milk, which is environmentally, friendly. For other milk products various materials are used, mainly plastic. No special care is given to the recycling of this kind of packaging material.
- Increase recovery of waste: limited progress has been done in this area.
Limit packaging at source: eco-conception - France
| Source : IDF National Committee of France |
Action
“Packaging” audits (free for small and medium-sized companies), aiming to reduce packaging at source. Recommendations to lower packaging weight, reduce scrap, optimise the thickness of thermally moulded films, optimise pallet organisation…
Leader
Eco Emballages
Calendar
Since 2006, ongoing
Impact
Operation already carried out with the fresh dairy products : removal of cardboards for grouping yogurts when sold by 4, substitution of plastic materials by cardboard where possible, reduction in weight of certain packaging and seal caps. An agreement between Eco-Emballages and companies targets the economy of 700 000 tons of packaging raw material between 2008 and 2012.
Environmentally friendly container designed for renewed ‘Yakult Joa’ - Japan
| Source : IDF National Committee of Japan |
Summary:
Synchronized with the renewal of Yakult Joa in October 2008, we changed its container design. We have applied polystyrene, a material of the bottle, to the associated cap for the renewed model instead of aluminum which we used previously. This makes the entire container all plastic and is considered environmentally friendly.
Details:
1. Changing the cap material from aluminum to plastic and making the entire set of container all plastic would not require separation upon disposal. Therefore higher recyclability of the container is achieved.
2. The change of the capping material and the associated change in the production line successfully saved the amount of electricity, hence the emission reductions. The CO2 reduction across the entire life cycle chain from packaging raw materials through to final manufacture is calculated to be 15% by the company.
Making Glass Milk Bottle Lighter with Improved Reusability - Japan
| Source : IDF National Committee of Japan |
Summary:
1. Reduced use of glass (by 43% from 244 gram to 140 gram per bottle) due to change of design saves energy during manufacturing glass milk bottle and distribution of final product, which should contribute to reduction in GHG (CO2) emission.
2. The adoption of new resin coating technology on the surface of glass milk bottle proved to improve its reusability of from 30 times to 80 to 90 times per bottle.
