Sustainability of Plastic Packaging Applications Wal-mart Sustainable Packaging Expo April 2008

Objectives • The role of plastics in packaging • Package types and sustainability: – Rigid packaging – Bottles – Foams – Flexible packaging

• Conclusions

Plastic Packaging

• Plastic packaging comes in several types: – Rigid packaging • Containers / pallets / thermoformed items • Bottles

– Foam – Flexible Packaging • Sheet or Film • Pouches, bags

Role of Plastics in Packaging • Plastic protects the product: – Gas barrier (oxygen, CO2) – Controlling permeation: moisture & other vapors (MVTR) – Flavor or aroma barrier – Physical barrier to chemicals, impact & contamination – Cushioning – Containing or supporting the product – As a medium for additives to stabilize, preserve, etc. – Extending product shelf-life …and… – Providing sensory appeal to help sell the product!

Plastics and Wal-Marts 7R’s • How do plastics play a role in sustainability? – – – – –

Remove – provide new functionality for redesign Reduce – light-weighting Reuse – provide durability, appearance, design Recycle/ content – recyclability, recycled content Renewable – use alternative source materials or production energy – Revenue - efficiencies of production & use – Read – plastics industry promotes & supports sustainability science & education

Types of Plastic Packaging

• The role of plastics in packaging • Package Types and Sustainability: – Rigid packaging – Bottles – Foams – Flexible packaging

• Conclusions

Rigid Plastic Packaging From Cradle to End of Life

Raw Material •Natural Gas •Petroleum •Renewable Resources

Polymer Manufacture •PET •HDPE/LDPE •PP •GPPS/HIPS •EVOH •PVC •PLA

Fabrication •Blow Molding •Extrusion •Injection Molding •Thermoforming

Forms •Bottles •Trays •Containers •Pallets •Cups •Caps/lids •Closures •Blister packs

End of Life •Reuse •Recycle •Compost •Energy Recovery •Incinerate •Landfill

LCI Results: Reusable Plastic Containers vs. Display Ready Corrugated Containers

•

Across 10 produce applications Reusable Plastic Containers: – Require 39% less total energy than display ready corrugated – Produce 95% less total solid waste than display ready corrugated – Generate 29% less total greenhouse gas emissions than display ready corrugated

•

Source - Life Cycle Inventory of Reusable Plastic Containers and Display-Ready Corrugated Containers Used for Fresh Produce Applications by Franklin Associates, Nov. 2004

Sustainability and packaging– A life cycle view „ Energy Use • Product

„ Material Use

• Choice of packaging

„ Emissions (e.g. GHG)

-material, size, design, … • Product delivery

„ Costs …

• Product use • Package End-of-life ¼ Eco-efficiency Analysis is a helpful instrument NGO-industry partnerships

Jointly created by industry-consultant partnership 1996

Sustainability tool: Eco-efficiency analysis1 • • •

•

Third-party certified Used by industry, academia, government & NGOs Holistic look at life-cycle environmental and economic impacts Environmental impacts include: – – – – – –

•

Emissions (air, water, solid) Toxicity Potential Risk Potential Raw Material Use Energy Use Land Use

In this case, environmental differences were small – but plastics provided significant cost advantage

Example: Yogurt packaging Environmental effect (normalized) 0.5 High eco-efficiency Reusable glass Plastics 1.0 Composit cartons Low eco-efficiency

1.5 1.5

1)

Validated Ecoefficiency 0.5 Analysis 1.0 Method Costs (normalized)

Source: BASF, www.basf.com

Recycling of Rigid Containers is Growing

• ACC, Association of Post Consumer Plastics Recyclers (APR), EPA and Brand Owners partnering to increase recycling • Currently at least 1/3rd of largest communities recycle rigid containers

Bottles From Cradle to End of Life

Raw Material •Natural Gas •Petroleum •Renewable Resources

Polymer Manufacture •PET •HDPE/LDPE •PP •GPPS/HIPS •EVOH •PVC •PLA

Fabrication •Blow molding: Injection Extrusion Stretch Coinjection Coextrusion

Packaging Applications •Beverage •Food •Non-food •Personal Care •Home Care

End of Life •Reuse •Recycle •Compost •Energy Recovery •Incinerate •Landfill

Bottles • Plastic protects the product via: – Gas barrier (oxygen, carbon dioxide) – Can contain additives (e.g. light stabilizers, preservatives) to protect contents – Impact resistance

• May co-extrude more than one plastic, to – – – – –

Include a layer of recycled material Improve barrier properties Create appearance or tactile effects (soft-touch) Reduce use of expensive colorants Provide “tie layers” to adhere different plastics

Helping to achieve 5% packaging reduction goal PEANUT BUTTER: Glass to plastic (18 oz.)

Weight of the jar:

10.2 oz.

% of total weight that’s product:

64%

Shipping and energy comparison:

1.7 oz. 91%

TOTAL ENERGY, POSTCONSUMER SOLID WASTE, AND GREENHOUSE GASES FOR THE USE OF 10,000 HALF-GALLON MILK CONTAINERS

Total Energy (MM Btu) Half-gallon milk container systems PLA Bottle (1)

Postconsumer Solid Waste (lb)

(cu ft)

Greenhouse Gases (lb of CO2 equivalents)

66.0

1,061

80.7

5,450

Gable Top Carton (1)

42.5

1,248

46.5

4,341

Glass Bottle (2)

48.5

6,718

71.0

8,509

HDPE Bottle (3)

39.8

763

58.0

3,260

(1) End-of-life for this system is modeled with 80% going to a landfill and 20% combusted with energy recovery. (2) End-of-life for this system is modeled with 15% recovered for recycling, 68% going to a landfill, and 17% combusted with energy recovery. However, the energy recovery is only available for the cap/seal. (3) End-of-life for this system is modeled with 29% recovered for recycling, 57% going to a landfill, and 14% combusted with energy recovery. Source: Franklin Associates, a Division of ERG calculations using original data from LCI/LCA by NatureWorks, LLC and PlasticsEurope.

2.2 Billion Pounds of Bottles Recycled in 2006 • Curbside recycling infrastructure for bottles is strong • PET and HDPE account for 98 percent of bottles • ACC Advocates “All Bottles” not just PET and HDPE • Export market is strong for other resins • Have reduced weights since introduction

2006 Post-Consumer Plastic Bottles Recycled (Millions of Pounds per Year) Calendar Year 2006

Plastic Bottle Type

Plastic Recycled

Resin Sales

Recycling Rate

HDPE Natural

454.4

1643

27.7%

HDPE Pigmented

473.7

1867

25.4%

Total HDPE Bottles

928.1

3510

26.4%

PVC

0.8

111

0.7%

LDPE

0.3

69

0.4%

18.4

207

8.9%

1,272

5,424

23.5%

2,219.6

9,321

23.8%

PP PET TOTAL Bottles

Plastic Foam Packaging From Cradle to End of Life

Raw Material •Natural Gas •Petroleum •Renewable Resources

Polymer Manufacture •Polystyrene •Polyethylene •Polypropylene •Urethane foams •PLA

Fabrication •Molding •Extrusion

Forms / Applications •Foam •Foam-in-place •Food service

End of Life •Reuse •Recycle •Compost •Energy Recovery •Incinerate •Landfill

Foams • Protect the product by cushioning and containing • Light weight, good insulating capacity, absorb shock and protect the product • Some foams are used for food service applications (EPS, PLA)

Paper or Polystyrene Cups • University of California at San Diego compared environmental effects of using: – Paper, Expanded polystyrene (EPS) cups, recyclable PET (polyethylene terephthalate), compostable PLA (polylactic acid) • Results:

– EPS has a smaller impact on the environment during its production and use. – PET, paperboard and PLA cups too expensive for UCSD. – PLA is compostable (& corn derived), but no approved industrial composting facilities exist near UCSD. Because the product would be landfilled, compostability of product had no benefits to UCSD. – EPS vs. paperboard cups – EPS uses less raw materials, less energy/power, less water, less steam and generates less waste than paper

References: Mike Levy, EPSMA/ACC; 2006 UCSD (University of California at San Diego) Environmental Science Graduate Report

Flexible Plastic Packaging From Cradle to End of Life

Raw Material •Natural Gas •Petroleum •Renewable Resources

Polymer Manufacture •PET •HDPE/LDPE •PP •PVC •EVOH •Nylon •PLA

Fabrication •Extrusion •Casting •Roll-stack •Calendering •Blown-film •FFS (form-fill-seal)

Forms •Film •Stretch Wrap •Shrink Wrap •Pouch •Retort Pouch •Bulk/heavy bag •Bag-in-box

End of Life •Reuse •Recycle •Compost •Energy Recovery •Incinerate •Landfill

Flexible Packaging • Protects the product by: – – – –

Gas (oxygen, carbon dioxide) or moisture barrier Flavor or aroma barrier Controlling moisture or vapor permeation (MVTR) Contains/protects contents

• Light-weight, efficient usage of materials and space, economical • Often multi-layered to provide needed properties

Industrial Stretch Film • Made from Linear Low Density Polyethylene • Improvements in resin design and polymer processing have allowed less material to be used. – Critical property requirements – Extensibility – Puncture resistance Year

Standard Stretch Film*

1998 2001 2004 2007 Reduction

80 70 65 57 29%

* Units are gauge. 80 gauge = 20 micron

High Performance Stretch Film* 60 51 51 45 25%

Industrial Stretch Film • With a global market size of about 3 billion pounds, this downgauging saves 1 billion pounds per year of PE from being used to make stretch film. • 1 billion pounds = 36.6 trillion BTUs • Equivalent to 293 million gallons of gasoline • Enough to heat and cool 643,000 homes for a year

While this reduction and savings have taken place, recycling has grown. Source: US EPA publication: Waste Management & Energy Savings: Benefits by the Numbers; 9/05

Granola: Cereal Box vs. Stand-Up Pouch1 Impact per 100 oz Cereal Package Type

Paperboard and HDPE Liner Stand-Up Pouch

Reduction vs Box

Landfill Discard s* (g)

Process GHG** (kg CO2 Eq)

Total Energy** (MJ)

11 oz

380.0

.861

12 oz

117.5

.265

Contents

Landfill Discards

68%

12.1

GHG

69%

9.25

Energy

23%

Calculations based on: • System boundary: Raw Material Cradle-to-Gate, plus recycle • *Discards = package mass – recycle stream • Cereal box assumptions ― 100% recycled content ― 30% recovered to recycle stream † • **Lifecycle inventory data sources: ― Paper: Environmental Defensewww.papercalculator.org ― EVA: The Dow Chemical Company ― Other Plastics: Boustead Model V5 † • From The ULS Report, February 2007

25 1) Source: Dow

Salsa: Glass Bottle vs Squeeze Bottle vs Pouch1 Impact per 100 oz Salsa Package Type

Contents

Landfill Discards * (g)

Process GHG** (kg CO2 Eq)

Total Energy** (MJ)

Glass Bottle

16 oz

1489.5

1.95

30.9

Squeeze Bottle

20 oz

248.0

0.521

18.5

Pouch

16 oz

62.5

0.257

6.02

Reduction vs Glass Squeeze Bottle

Pouch

Landfill Discards

83%

96%

GHG

73%

87%

Energy

40%

81%

Calculations based on: • System boundary: Raw Material Cradle-to-Gate, plus recycle • *Discards = package mass – recycle stream • Glass assumption ― 20% recovered to recycle stream † • Metal assumptions ― 50% recycled content ― 50% recovered to recycle stream † • **Lifecycle inventory sources ― Plastics and Glass: Boustead Model V5 ― Metal: BUWAL 1998, Life Cycle Inventories of Packaging, Volume 1 † • From The ULS Report, February 2007

26 1) Source: Dow

Sausage packaging eco-efficiency example: Environmental & economic aspects improve using flexible packaging

Customer benefit:

Environmental impact (normalized) -1.0 High eco-efficiency * *Modified

Packaging and consumption of 1.000 kg sausage

Butcher

MAP*

1.0 Can Glass jar

Flexible packaging benefits: Î Improved transport and distribution of food

Low eco-efficiency

3.0 3.0

1.0 -1.0 Costs (normalized)

Î Smaller amount of spoiled food Î Lower energy consumptions/ lower CO2 emissions

1)

Source: BASF, www.basf.com

atmosphere packaging using multi-layer composite fim

Sausage packaging – Don’t forget the primary package function is to protect the contents!

Energy use for MAP packaged sausage Sausage production

approx. 90% Primary packaging material Secondary packaging material Package production Transportation

Sustainability of Plastic Packaging Applications

• The role of plastics in packaging • Package Types: – Rigid packaging – Bottles – Foams – Flexible packaging

• Conclusions

There are many ways to improve sustainability • Redesign the package: – – – –

Lightweight a rigid package Change a rigid package to a flexible package Downgauge a flexible package for source reduction Redesign the package for different use or end-of-life options

• Redesign a material: – Improved processability and manufacturing efficiency – faster speeds & less waste – Consider alternate materials with different aspects/functionality

• Redesign processes: – Increase efficiency of packaging equipment – Reduce energy consumption and waste generation of manufacture – Improve efficiencies of transport & package use 30

Life Cycle Thinking is Important • Life cycle thinking is an objective, scientific approach and provides a comprehensive view of a product from cradle to grave/cradle. • All environmental impacts should be considered – rather than focusing on only one • Package application and function are critical –Which material to use is not the only consideration –Think about how much is needed for package performance! • A balanced look at end-of-life options is also necessary. –In addition to a material being recycled, consider the impacts of recycling (transport fuel, energy, etc) –The benefits of compostable materials are NOT realized unless they are actually composted • Make sure you’re not creating negative impacts by redesign!

Input for this presentation was provided by: Charlene Wall, BASF Corporation Jeff Wooster, Dow Chemical Company Amanda Holder, Berry Plastics Dennis Sabourin, National Association for PET Container Resources Frank Onorato, Sabert Corporation Gerhard Guenther, Total Petrochemicals, USA Mark Spencer, Pactiv Corporation

Thanks for your attention!!! Questions?