Sustainable food packaging

Definitions that have been developed for sustainable packaging are critically reviewed and examples given of situations where prevailing assumptions about what constitutes sustainable packaging are incorrect. Metrics and tools for the design of sustainable packaging are reviewed and the key drivers for development of sustainable food packaging discussed. Waste management options are explored from a sustainability viewpoint, and future trends outlined.

[1]  Vanee Chonhenchob,et al.  Life cycle inventory and analysis of re‐usable plastic containers and display‐ready corrugated containers used for packaging fresh fruits and vegetables , 2006 .

[2]  W. Parton,et al.  Life-cycle assessment of net greenhouse-gas flux for bioenergy cropping systems. , 2007, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[3]  Anastasia Zabaniotou,et al.  Life cycle assessment applied to egg packaging made from polystyrene and recycled paper , 2003 .

[4]  Gregory M. Bohlmann,et al.  Biodegradable packaging life-cycle assessment , 2004 .

[5]  Stewart Barr,et al.  What we buy, what we throw away and how we use our voice. Sustainable household waste management in the UK , 2004 .

[6]  William McDonough,et al.  Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things , 2002 .

[7]  Gifford Pinchot,et al.  The Fight for Conservation , 1910 .

[8]  Sissel A. Waage,et al.  Re-considering product design: a practical “road-map” for integration of sustainability issues , 2007 .

[9]  Anna Lúcia Mourad,et al.  Influence of recycling rate increase of aseptic carton for long-life milk on GWP reduction , 2008 .

[10]  R. Howarth.  Towards an operational sustainability criterion , 2007 .

[11]  S. Gheewala,et al.  Life cycle assessment as a decision support tool for landfill gas-to energy projects , 2007 .

[12]  S. Sikdar,et al.  Framework for Sustainability Metrics , 2007 .

[13]  G. Brundtland,et al.  Our common future , 1987 .

[14]  R. Doornbosch,et al.  Biofuels: is the cure worse than the disease? , 2007 .

[15]  Elisabeth Hochschorner,et al.  Handling trade-offs in Ecodesign tools for sustainable product development and procurement , 2006 .

[16]  K. Westlake,et al.  Sustainable Landfill—Possibility or Pipe-Dream? , 1997 .

[17]  G. Robertson.  State-of-the-art biobased food packaging materials , 2008 .

[18]  Seungdo Kim,et al.  Life Cycle Assessment Study of Biopolymers (Polyhydroxyalkanoates) - Derived from No-Tilled Corn (11 pp) , 2005 .

[19]  R. Narayan.  Biobased and biodegradable polymer materials: Rationale, drivers, and technology exemplars , 2006 .

[20]  Arnim Wiek,et al.  Sustainability Potential Analysis (SPA) of landfills – a systemic approach: theoretical considerations , 2007 .

[21]  J. Farrington,et al.  What is sustainability , 2010 .

[22]  J. Potting,et al.  The Nonlinear Relationship between Paper Recycling and Primary Pulp Requirements , 2004 .

[23]  Stephen J Burnley,et al.  A review of municipal solid waste composition in the United Kingdom. , 2007, Waste management.

[24]  David A. Glassner,et al.  ORIGINAL RESEARCH: The eco-profiles for current and near-future NatureWorks® polylactide (PLA) production , 2007 .

[25]  W. Rathje,et al.  Rubbish!: The Archaeology of Garbage , 1992 .

[26]  Forbes R McDougall,et al.  Integrated Solid Waste Management: A Lifecycle Inventory , 1995 .

[27]  Matthias Ruth,et al.  An industrial ecology of the US glass industry , 1997 .

[28]  Teija Aarnio,et al.  Challenges in packaging waste management in the fast food industry , 2008 .

[29]  G. Davis,et al.  Biodegradable packaging based on raw materials from crops and their impact on waste management , 2006 .

[30]  Youcai Zhao,et al.  Recycling of aged refuse from a closed landfill , 2007, Waste management & research : the journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA.

[31]  Gary D Meyers,et al.  An international waste convention: measures for achieving sustainable development , 2006, Waste management & research : the journal of the International Solid Wastes and Public Cleansing Association, ISWA.

[32]  Rebeka Lukman,et al.  Review of sustainability terms and their definitions , 2007 .

[33]  Stefan Salhofer,et al.  Potentials for the prevention of municipal solid waste. , 2008, Waste management.

[34]  Eva Pongrácz,et al.  The Environmental Impacts of Packaging , 2007 .

[35]  Arnim Wiek,et al.  Sustainability Potential Analysis (SPA) of landfills—a systemic approach: initial application towards a legal landfill assessment , 2007 .

[36]  Fredrik Wikström,et al.  A life cycle perspective on environmental effects of customer focused packaging development , 2008 .

[37]  Frank Ackerman,et al.  Why Do We Recycle?: Markets, Values, and Public Policy , 1996 .

[38]  Sustainable Futures: The Rationale for the Working Group on Modeling and Evaluation for Sustainability , 2007 .

[39]  O. Mont,et al.  Sustainable consumption progress: should we be proud or alarmed? , 2008 .

[40]  Martin B. Hocking,et al.  Reusable and disposable cups: An energy-based evaluation , 1994 .

[41]  D. Moy,et al.  A Decision Support Framework for Sustainable Waste Management , 2004 .

[42]  Simone Ehrenberger,et al.  Utilisation options of renewable resources: a life cycle assessment of selected products , 2008 .

[43]  E. Neumayer.  German packaging waste management: a successful voluntary agreement with less successful environmental effects , 2000 .

[44]  Elbert Dijkgraaf,et al.  Burn or bury? A social cost comparison of final waste disposal methods , 2004 .

[45]  Audrey L Mayer,et al.  Strengths and weaknesses of common sustainability indices for multidimensional systems. , 2008, Environment international.

[46]  Maria Laura Mastellone,et al.  A life cycle assessment of mechanical and feedstock recycling options for management of plastic packaging wastes , 2005 .

[47]  S. Gheewala,et al.  Life cycle assessment of MSW-to-energy schemes in Thailand , 2007 .

[48]  Martin B. Hocking,et al.  Relative merits of polystyrene foam and paper in hot drink cups: Implications for packaging , 1991 .