How environmentally friendly is it to pack milk or juice in beverage cartons instead of reusable glass bottles? A few days ago, the Fachverband Kartonverpackungen für flüssige Nahrungsmittel e.V. (FKN) reported that beverage cartons have a better eco-balance than reusable glass bottles in many categories. The PET Forum criticises the fact that reusable PET bottles are not being adequately recognised.
In its report, the FKN refers to a study by the Heidelberg Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU). This analysed the life cycle assessment of different packaging sizes for different drinks. The overall result would have been Beverage cartons because of their high proportion of renewable raw materials once again performed well, which is why the Federal Environment Agency exempted them from the deposit requirement, according to the FKN.
Milk in glass bottles travels long distances
For example, the beverage carton has made a very clear contribution to the one-litreFresh milk-packaging has the upper hand over reusable packaging.Glass bottle retained. It scored better in almost all categories - including summer smog, acidification and particulate matter. This is also due to the fact that fresh milk is transported over long distances and is only sold by the bottle, which affects the return of the bottles, says FKN Managing Director Michael Kleene.
„Recycling undoubtedly provides a high ecological benefit, but does not make ecologically favourable packaging on its own.“
Michael Kleene, FKN Managing Director
However, the glass bottles performed significantly better in the Fruit juices from. Here, the glass bottles achieved 22 to 25 deposit cycles. There was no clear winner in the comparison of this product category. According to the FKN, both reusable glass bottles and beverage cartons performed significantly better compared to Disposable PET bottles off. „Even high Recycling rates, The association, whose board of directors includes top executives from Elopak, Tetra Pak and SIG Combibloc, states that “the absence of barrier layers and the use of recycled PET, as would be expected with a deposit on juice bottles, do not lead to any findings to the contrary.
„Reusable PET bottles are a sustainable alternative“
This finding in turn gives rise to the Forum PET The group within the German Association of the Plastics Packaging Industry responded to the statement from the German Beverage Carton Association by stating: „The single-use PET bottles with a deposit for water, soft drinks and other beverages have been proven to be a sustainable alternative to reusable glass packaging. Nine out of ten non-returnable PET bottles are labelled, except for juice and milk, to which the IFEU study exclusively refers.
„Around one in four to five juice bottles can now be recycled. The solutions that are already available must now become more established.“
Dr Isabell SchmidtIK Managing Director
With the Life cycle assessment The PET industry is taking a critical look at the shelf life of juice and milk bottles. „In order to guarantee the shelf life of these products, it is sometimes necessary to use additional Barrier materials in bottle production, which makes recycling more difficult,“ says IK Managing Director Dr Isabell Schmidt, citing reasons why juice and milk are almost exclusively sold in disposable PET containers. They are working on recycling-friendly solutions. The first recyclable juice bottles are already available.
[infotext icon]You can download a summary and the complete study by the IFEU Institute on the life cycle assessment of beverage cartons for milk and juice from the Website of the FKN download.
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