Energy and Power Engineering, 2013, 5, 1429-1434
doi:10.4236/epe.2013.54B271 Published Online July 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/epe)
Life Cycle Assessment-based method of Excessive
Commodity Packaging on Energy Conservation and
Emissions Reduction
Si-ying Wang, Xi-chun Bao, Ning-ling Wang
School of Control and Computer Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China
Email: 469276012@qq.com
Received March, 2013
ABSTRACT
Based on a Life Cycle Assessment model, the effect of the whole life cycle of excessive commodity packaging on the
environment was analyzed by eBalance Evaluation LCA software from production through circulation. The cost
evaluation system and environment impact model of its three main processes, that is, material production, product
machining and waste manufacturing, were established to identify the main environmental impact corresponding
indicators and the influence on energy conservation and emissions reduction of excessive packaging life cycle. And
packaging of moon-cakes was taken as an example to analyze the difference between the ordinary packaging and
excessive packaging of moon-cakes in terms of life cycle assessment and costs analysis. Meanwhile some measures are
put forward to conserve energy and reduce emissions.
Keywords: Energy Conservation and Emissions Reduction; Excessive Package; Life Cycle Assessment
1. Introduction
Nowadays, with the continuous development of the
economy, people's living standards is gradually
improving. Excessive packaging has become a serious
social economic phenomenon. At present, there are lots
of researches about the environmental impact of
commodity packaging, and the typical model of LCA can
be found in [1-3]. But in most researches, only the
simplified mathematical models were used which can
lead to subjectivity, striking differences in assessment
and limited use as a role of guiding the practice. Based
on a Life Cycle Assessment model, the effect of the
whole life cycle of excessive commodity packaging on
the environment was analyzed from production through
circulation. The cost evaluation system and environment
impact model of its three main processes, that is, material
production, product machining and waste management,
was established to identify the main environmental
impact corresponding indicators and the influence on
energy conservation and emissions reduction of
excessive packaging life cycle.
2. Overview of the Research Method
2.1. Life Cycle Assessment
Life Cycle Assessment is a technique to assess
environmental impacts associated with all the stages of a
product's life from-cradle-to-grave. LCAs can help avoid
a narrow outlook on environmental concerns by the
following methods: Compiling an inventory of relevant
energy and material inputs and environmental releases;
evaluating the potential impacts associated with
identified inputs and releases; interpreting the results to
help make a more informed decision. The evaluation of
this paper runs through the product, process and activities
of the whole life cycle, including raw materials
extraction and processing, product manufacturing,
transportation and sales, product use, reuse and
maintenance, waste cycle and final di s p o s al.
2.2. Technical Framework of Life Cycle
Assessment
According to the IS O 14040 and 14044 standards, a Life
Cycle Assessment [4] is carried out in four distinct
phases which are as follows and shown in Figure 1 :
Goal and scope definition. An LCA starts with an
explicit statement of the goal and scope of the study.
Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). A flow model of the
technical system is constructed by means of using data
on inputs and outputs. Inventory flows include inputs of
water, energy, and raw materials, and releases to air, land,
and water.
Life cycle impact assessment. This phase is aimed
at evaluating the significance of potential environmental
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. EPE
S.-Y. WANG ET AL.
1430
impacts
Interpretation. The outcome of the interpretation
phase is a set of conclusions and recommendations for
the study.
2.3. Environmental Impact Indicators
This paper uses eBalance Evaluation LCA software to
analyze and process each stage of material consumptions,
energy consumption and emissions to the environment,
and finally 11 types of Environmental Impact Indicators
are concluded as follows: global warming potential
(GWP), carbon dioxide emissions(CO2), China’s fossil
energy consumption potential(CADP), primary energy
consumption(PED), particulates(RI), industrial water
consumption(lnWU), eutrophication potential(EP), SO2
emissions(SO2), NOx emissions(NOx), Acidification
potential (AP), Chemical oxygen demand (COD).
3. Life Cycle Assessment Process of
Excessive Commodit y Packaging
3.1. Goal and Scope Definition
This paper shall includ e all processes from raw materials
to the final waste management. But because of the
limitation of the time and funds, and the difficulty of data
collection and data authenticity, usability, we give it a
proper definition. Life cycle assessment process of
excessive commodity packaging is as follows:
This process includes raw materials extraction and
processing, transportation, packaging production and
manufacturing, distribution sales, product use, waste
management.
3.2. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)
Because of the variety of commodity packag ing materials,
this article chooses the most representative corrugated
paper for convenience. Allowing for complicated uncer-
tainty factors in transport process, this paper takes no
account of raw materials transportation and product dis-
tribution sales process. Furthermore there are only a few
material consumptions and energy consumption which
don’t need maintenance during the use of product.
In conclusion, according to the Figure 2, we lay stress
on its three main processes: material production, product
machining and waste management.
The explanation of raw materials is as follows:
corrugated paper is only used once; the data during waste
disposal process refer to a wide range of statistical data
in China, as is shown in Table 1.
Figure 1. Technical framework of life cycle assessment.
Figure 2. Life cycle process of excessive commodity pack-
aging.
Table 1. Life Cycle Inventory of Processing Corrugated Paper [5]
Corrugated Paper 1000kg Specific items
Wood 300
Waste paper 1360
Raw material (kg) Other chemical medicine 4.25
Energy consumptionkW.h 414
Consumption of steamkg 1726
Consumption (energy, steam)
Water consumptionm3 41.8
Bark or waste paper 46
Debris out of screening 8
Debris out of desander 14.5
Deinked sludge 31.5
Biological sludge 4.5
Waste emissions
(kg)
amount of waste 239.5
Effluent after treatment m3 42
Suspended solids SSmg/L 45.4
Biological oxygen demand BOD(mg/L)
Wastewater emissions
Chemical oxygen demand COD(mg/L) 638.9
CO2kg 209
SO2kg 4.4
Tailpipe emission
NOXkg 1.9
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. EPE
S.-Y. WANG ET AL. 1431
In the production processing process, because there is
no uniform mode in printing, proofing, processing and
the situation is much more complicated, we only lay
stress on the most representative printing process.
Material flow in the process of printing is shown in
Figure 3, and pollutant emission data list is shown in
Table 2.
In the collection process, as shown in Figure 4, waste
management can be divided into regeneration treatment,
incineration power and landfill.
Considering that the finished product packing box may
also contain other material auxiliary decoratio n materials,
and no unified mode, so the packaging of goods will fo-
cus on the corrugated paper waste management, and Ta-
ble 3 shows data:
Figure 3. Material flow in the process of printing.
Table 2. Pollutant emission data list in the process of
printing.
Organics Emission concentrat i o n
(mg/m3) Rate of emission
kg/h
Ethyl acetate 150 12
Methylbenzene 60 6.1
Butanone 150 12
Acetone 150 12
Solvent
Consumption t/d
2.33
(Printing machine daily
consumption)
Figure 4. Waste manufacturing process.
Table 3. Corrugated paper waste management [1].
Process Index Amount(g/m²)
waste incinerati on 329.05
collection 383.90
Waste management
landfill 438.74
3.3. Impact Assessment
Using eBalance Evaluation software and its includible
database, commodity packaging was analyzed from pro-
duction through circulation. According to the analysis of
results on common packing, a conclusion was drawn on
the environment impact of excessive packaging qualita-
tively. Analysis results are shown below.
According to Figure 5, it’s shown that CADP and
COD are the principal aspects of environment impact in
the proceeding of corrugated paper. And the
consumption of fossil fuel increases because of the use of
fuel and electricity. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) is
mainly used to measure how much organic matter
contains in the water .The more COD there is, the more
serious the water pollution is by the organic matter.
The energy consumption in the proceeding above-
mentioned includes water, electricity and steam. Steam
leakage occurs in the highest frequency, which will lead
to the consumption of coal and electric power, so it is
necessary to strengthen the prevention. Besides, the
waste water and waste ink from printing machine and
other equipment will cause great pollution to the atmos-
phere, water quality and soil, thus it is of great impor-
tance to do some relevant management well.
We can learn from the Figure 6 that there are two
main causes including RI and CADP to the environment
in the proceeding of packaging production. Compared
with common p ackaging, excessive packaging will cause
more great influence on the two aspects and other in-
dexes such as acidification, eutrophication and CO2
emissi on and so on.
Aiming at the questions above, on the one hand we
should choose the appropriate packing material
according to the character of the inner commodity and
pay less attention to pursue the gorgeous appearance. On
the other hand, we should introduce advanced equipment
actively, optimize the production process, try our best to
reduce the use of raw materials and improve the strength
and quality of packing.
When dealing with the same quantitative abandon
carton, the environment impact of incineration, recycle
and landfill treatment and the comparison of the three
methods were shown in the Figures 7-10.
There are three main environment impact indicators in
the incineration proceeding: AP, SO2 and RI, CADP,
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. EPE
S.-Y. WANG ET AL.
1432
Figure 5. Environment impact on the manufacture of
corrugated paper.
Figure 6. Environment impact on the production
proceeding of packaging.
Figure 7. Environment impact of processing method of
incineration power.
Figure 8. Environment impact of processing method of recycle.
Figure 9. Environment impact of processing method of
landfill treatment.
Figure 10. Environment impact of the three waste
treatment methods.
PED, CO2 and GWP are the principal causes in the
recycle proceeding. Recycling abandon carton to make
pulp saves the production of raw materials. However, its
energy dissipation has a negative impact on the global
warming. In the proceeding of landfill treatment, EP and
GWP play an important role.
Generally speaking, the environment influence of the
three is successively increasing. Incineration power can
reduce the pollution to the natural environment
effectively. Landfill treatment own the low lost and
require easier technology, however, considering that the
decomposition of abandon carton will generate toxic
substance, which will create terrible pollution to the
atmosphere ,water and soil, so it is the last choose in the
three treatment.
4. Case study: LCA of Common Packaging
and the Excessive Packaging about
Moon-cake
4.1. Analysis of Energy Consumption and
Emission of Moon-cake Carton
In order to compare the environment impact on the two
kinds of packaging quantitatively, packaging of moon-
cakes was taken as an example to analyze the difference
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. EPE
S.-Y. WANG ET AL.
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. EPE
1433
between the ordinary packaging and excessive packaging
of moon-cakes in terms of life cycle assessment and costs
analysis. A model is set up to calculate the cost of
packing. According to a formula:
The cost of material = material cost per unit *material
quantity.
we can calculate the cost of two packaged form, and the
results are shown in the Table 4.
We can learn that:
Energy consumption of excessive packing is
roughly 6 times as much as the ordinary packing; water
consumption of excessive packing is 4 times as much as
those of ordinary packing.
1. Wood consumption of excessive packing is about 4
times as much as those of ordinary packing.
Consumption of Crude oil is 3 times as much as those of
ordinary packing. Cast iron, limestone and other raw
materials are not used in the ordinary packing.
2. Emissions of CO2 and NOx of over package are
approximately 5 times as much as those of ordinary
packing. Emissions of SO2 are 9 times as much as those
of ordinary packing and emissions of HC are about 4
times as much as those of ordinary packing.
3. BOD and COD are the main water quality pollutant
of excessive packing, which are about 4 times as much as
those of ordinary packaging.
4. Off scum emissions of excessive packaging are
about 72 times as much as those of ordinary packing.
Dust capacity is about 27 times as much as those of
ordinary packing.
The comparison of environment impact in the whole
production proceeding of moon-cake packaging is shown
in the Figure 11. The proportion of each cause to
environment effect is listed from big to small, which are
RI, lnWU, PED, CO2, GWP, EP and AP.
However, the environment effect created by the
respiratory action of inorganic substance of excessive
packaging is about 5 times as much as those of ordinary
packaging. Industry water supply volume, PED and
GWP are roughly 6 times as much as those of ordinary
packing. AP and EP are about 5 times as much as those
of ordinary packaging. Through the comparative results
we can learn that excessive packaging will lead to more
energy and resources consumption and thus have a
harmful effect to the environment.
5. Conclusions
In this paper, we apply the procedure-based all-life cycle
method to the section of raw material, product processing ,
product use and produce waste disposal for paper
packaging to have a close analysis, and take the
moon-cake paper packing for instance so as to imply that
the damage caused by excess packing mainly attributes
to the consuming of the fossil energy, the emissions of
the respirable inorganics, and the climate change caused
by the emission of CO2.
As for the problems arising from applying the all-life
cycle method, which include the complexity of the
sections and lack of the data in the product packing,
further research is needed in the following aspects:
Table 4. Moon-cake inventory and cost analysis [6].
Evaluation items Excessive
packaging Ordinary
packaging Material
cost Over packing
cost/yuan Ordinary packing
cost/yuan
Energy consumption/MJ 91.549 15.573
Water consum pt ion/kg 271.461 65.701 4.05yuan/t 1.09 0.26
wood 4773.693 1225.699 1700yuan/t 8.12 2.08
Crude 326.096 106.045 619.2yuan /barrel 1.27 0.41
Cast iron 657.164 / 2555yuan /t 1.68 0
Main material
consumption/g
limestone 744.785 / 700yuan/m3 1.93 0
CO2 10044.398 1836.405
SOx 37.294 4.14
NOx 31.306 5.971
Gases emissions/g
HC 7.841 2.172
BOD 5.591 1.415
Water quality
pollutant/g COD 14.85 3.76
offscum 1837.368 25.663
Solid waste/g stive 151.291 5.661
total 14.09 2.75
S.-Y. WANG ET AL.
1434
Figure 11. The environment impact on the whole
production proceeding of moon-cake.
1) Collect more raw data and perfect data for modeling.
The concrete actions include the collection of the data
from the production of packing boxes, plate-making,
print, surface treatment, and so on.
2) More detailed analysis to the procedure of the all-
life cycle method. Improve the integrity of analysis in
life cycle of the boxes-packing, especially in transporting
section, Sales and Distribution section, and the using
section. Build a model linked to the economic efficiency
of every section of the excess packing and the influence
of the climate, so that we’ll get to the goal of evaluating
and optimizing the all-life cycle method.
REFERENCES
[1] J. Y. Liu, Q. J. Yang and X. M. Han, “Life Cycle
Assessment of Environmental Impact of Corrugated
Boxes,” Research of Environment Science, Vol. 21, No. 6,
2008.
[2] R. L. Guo and S. S. Zhou, “Evaluation System of Packing
Material Based on LCA,” 2007.
[3] C. M. Lu, “Research of Design of Green Product in the
Direction lf LCA,” Vol. 24, No. 4, 2006.
[4] F. Y. Li, J. F. Li and L. J. Yan, “Present State and
Perspectives of Green Design of Product Based on LCA,”
Modern Manufacturing Technology, Vol. 8-14, 2006.
[5] F. Li, “Life Circle Evaluation of Environment Impact
Based on a Paper-making Factory,” 2008.
[6] L. Fang, X. Q. Ma, Z. L. Zhao and H. B. Li, “Evaluation
on Packaging of Moon Cake Based on LCA,” Packing
Engineering, Vol. 27, No. 1, 2006.
Copyright © 2013 SciRes. EPE