Environmental Life Cycle Costs in the Australian Food Packaging Supply Chain

There is increasing evidence that external and internal pressures are being placed upon companies to acknowledge, characterise and analyse environmental issues, impacts and costs. It has been argued that companies will increasingly be faced with responsibilities extending outside the factory gate to point of sale and beyond. Companies will need to adopt a life cycle perspective into the decision making framework, to support managements' decisions regarding the environmental impacts and costs of activities and products. The aim of this thesis is to explore the environmental impacts and environmental costs recognition and management within companies in the Australian food packaging supply chain. A grounded theory approach is used to develop propositions from the findings that can be tested in further research. A qualitative case study approach is undertaken using face-to-face interviews with Environmental Managers of twenty-seven companies that operate within the Australian food packaging supply chain.