Next generation of sustainable packaging for Danish skincare scale-up
(2022) MTTM10 20221Packaging Logistics
- Abstract
- The Cosmetic packaging industry is on the rise and through consumer demand, cosmetic companies are increasing their focus on sustainability and accountability. This has left many companies in need of a deeper understanding regarding the environmental impact of their current packaging solutions as well as how to improve their footprint in the future. This thesis addresses these points by providing a life cycle assessment (LCA) of five chosen materials; polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, polylactide, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and aluminium. Due to the differences in physical properties and production methods, the plastics will be modelled as an airless dispenser and the aluminium as a tube with screw cap. Stand-alone environmental... (More)
- The Cosmetic packaging industry is on the rise and through consumer demand, cosmetic companies are increasing their focus on sustainability and accountability. This has left many companies in need of a deeper understanding regarding the environmental impact of their current packaging solutions as well as how to improve their footprint in the future. This thesis addresses these points by providing a life cycle assessment (LCA) of five chosen materials; polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, polylactide, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and aluminium. Due to the differences in physical properties and production methods, the plastics will be modelled as an airless dispenser and the aluminium as a tube with screw cap. Stand-alone environmental footprints as well as comparative results are provided with a discussion and analysis of sensitive parameters (weight, recycled content, recycling rate). The report has found that for the defined base case of 0\% recycled content and current Swedish recycling statistics, polypropylene is the best option.
Further, the thesis shows how even smaller changes in the sensitive parameters drastically alter the environmental impact of the materials, emphasizing the importance of always including these parameters into packaging material discussions. This conclusion is of significance due to the lack of nuance that many companies experience when making sustainability decisions. Finally, the report has also provided a framework for working with LCA's in the form of a methodology and a model in the LCA software, OpenLCA. The report is done in collaboration with the Danish skincare company, NØIE. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- Through consumer demand, cosmetic companies are increasing their focus on sustainability and accountability for their products and packaging. This has left many companies in need of a deeper understanding of how their packaging and product affect the environment. The danish skincare company NØIE is one of these companies and has addressed the need to know how their current packaging for face cream is affecting the environment. Additionally, NØIE is looking to gain information about other materials that can be used and how they stack up beside their current packaging. To meet this need, this thesis employs a methodology called life cycle assessment. In practice, this means looking at the life cycles of the chosen materials from the... (More)
- Through consumer demand, cosmetic companies are increasing their focus on sustainability and accountability for their products and packaging. This has left many companies in need of a deeper understanding of how their packaging and product affect the environment. The danish skincare company NØIE is one of these companies and has addressed the need to know how their current packaging for face cream is affecting the environment. Additionally, NØIE is looking to gain information about other materials that can be used and how they stack up beside their current packaging. To meet this need, this thesis employs a methodology called life cycle assessment. In practice, this means looking at the life cycles of the chosen materials from the production of their raw materials to their final waste management processes.
The materials chosen can be divided into three categories. Fossil plastics (plastics that are based on oil and natural gas) included in this category are the polymers polypropylene and polyethylene. Bioplastics (plastics that are based on biomass such as corn or sugarcane) included in this category are Polylactide and polyhydroxyalkanoates. The third category is metals, and included is aluminium. Because of differences in how the materials can be processed and their physical properties, they have been divided into two different packaging designs when modelled. The fossil and biobased plastic are modelled as an airless dispenser which is the design currently used by the company, and the aluminium is modelled as a tube with screw cap.
The main results from the thesis are firstly that the currently used material of polypropylene shows the least overall impact on the environment compared to the other materials when modelled with 0\% recycled content and recycling rates according to Swedish recycling statistics. Secondly, it can be seen that this result changes depending on the values of three tested variables; weight, recycled content, and recycling rate.
These results are significant because they show the company the current environmental impact of their packaging and the significance of including these parameters when choosing and evaluating packaging materials. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9094697
- author
- Craft, Carl LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MTTM10 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- life cycle assessment, LCA, packaging materials, cosmetics packaging, sustainability, polypropylene, polyethylene, polylactide, polyhydroxyalkanoates, aluminium.
- language
- English
- id
- 9094697
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-30 11:39:57
- date last changed
- 2022-06-30 11:39:57
@misc{9094697,
abstract = {{The Cosmetic packaging industry is on the rise and through consumer demand, cosmetic companies are increasing their focus on sustainability and accountability. This has left many companies in need of a deeper understanding regarding the environmental impact of their current packaging solutions as well as how to improve their footprint in the future. This thesis addresses these points by providing a life cycle assessment (LCA) of five chosen materials; polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, polylactide, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and aluminium. Due to the differences in physical properties and production methods, the plastics will be modelled as an airless dispenser and the aluminium as a tube with screw cap. Stand-alone environmental footprints as well as comparative results are provided with a discussion and analysis of sensitive parameters (weight, recycled content, recycling rate). The report has found that for the defined base case of 0\% recycled content and current Swedish recycling statistics, polypropylene is the best option.
Further, the thesis shows how even smaller changes in the sensitive parameters drastically alter the environmental impact of the materials, emphasizing the importance of always including these parameters into packaging material discussions. This conclusion is of significance due to the lack of nuance that many companies experience when making sustainability decisions. Finally, the report has also provided a framework for working with LCA's in the form of a methodology and a model in the LCA software, OpenLCA. The report is done in collaboration with the Danish skincare company, NØIE.}},
author = {{Craft, Carl}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Next generation of sustainable packaging for Danish skincare scale-up}},
year = {{2022}},
}