TY - JOUR

T1 - Environmental impacts of different single-use and multi-use packaging systems for fresh fish export

AU - Hilmarsdóttir, Guorun Svana

AU - Margeirsson, Bjorn

AU - Spierling, Sebastian

AU - Ögmundarson, Olafur

N1 - Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the support from the Icelandic Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries for funding the study (Umhverfisvænni matvælaumbúðir; UMMAT no. ANR21060110 ) and the University of Iceland Research Fund (no. 15647 ).

PY - 2024/4/1

Y1 - 2024/4/1

N2 - The production and pollution of plastic present a significant threat to global ecosystems, where annual plastic emissions in aquatic ecosystems are projected to triple between 2020 and 2030. Currently, plastics are widely used for food packaging but depending on the polymers, properties, the recyclability ratio of the plastics varies. Polymers, such as polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PUR), and expanded polystyrene (EPS), are widely used for packaging and transporting foods such as fresh fish, where multi-use fish tubs often consist of PE and/or PUR and single-use boxes of EPS. This study evaluated the environmental impacts of reusable tubs of different volumes and sizes made of PE/PUR vs single-use EPS boxes, transporting 1000 tons (T) of fresh fish from Iceland to Europe, per year based on life cycle assessment methodology. This is to identify the packaging solution with the lowest environmental impact. The overall results show that multi-use tubs had lower environmental impacts when transporting 1000 T of fresh fish from Iceland to Europe per year, even during first year of usage. For Global warming impacts, producing and using EPS boxes for transporting 1000 T of fresh fish was 141 T CO2-eq and ranged from 4 to 46 T CO2-eq for variating multi-use packaging solutions for one year. The weight of the raw materials (plastics) and size of the tubs were key factors affecting the environmental impacts when transporting the tubs.

AB - The production and pollution of plastic present a significant threat to global ecosystems, where annual plastic emissions in aquatic ecosystems are projected to triple between 2020 and 2030. Currently, plastics are widely used for food packaging but depending on the polymers, properties, the recyclability ratio of the plastics varies. Polymers, such as polyethylene (PE), polyurethane (PUR), and expanded polystyrene (EPS), are widely used for packaging and transporting foods such as fresh fish, where multi-use fish tubs often consist of PE and/or PUR and single-use boxes of EPS. This study evaluated the environmental impacts of reusable tubs of different volumes and sizes made of PE/PUR vs single-use EPS boxes, transporting 1000 tons (T) of fresh fish from Iceland to Europe, per year based on life cycle assessment methodology. This is to identify the packaging solution with the lowest environmental impact. The overall results show that multi-use tubs had lower environmental impacts when transporting 1000 T of fresh fish from Iceland to Europe per year, even during first year of usage. For Global warming impacts, producing and using EPS boxes for transporting 1000 T of fresh fish was 141 T CO2-eq and ranged from 4 to 46 T CO2-eq for variating multi-use packaging solutions for one year. The weight of the raw materials (plastics) and size of the tubs were key factors affecting the environmental impacts when transporting the tubs.

KW - Expanded polystyrene

KW - Fish packaging

KW - Life-cycle assessment

KW - Multi-use tub

KW - Polyethylene

KW - Single-use box

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85186757645&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141427

DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.141427

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85186757645

VL - 447

JO - Journal of cleaner production

JF - Journal of cleaner production

SN - 0959-6526

M1 - 141427

ER -