Assessment of the environment-friendliness of PLA express packaging using LCA methodology
SHI Yu, XU Ling, CHEN Yu, Hou Hao-chen
Key Laboratory of Industrial Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Abstract:In this paper, the life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare the environmental impact of raw materials extraction, production, use and five disposal scenarios of polylactic acid (PLA) express packaging, and the cumulative energy demand (CED) method was used to analyze energy consumption. The environmental impact potential of the raw materials extraction, production, and use of express bags were 1.09×10-9, 5.64×10-10 and 1.24×10-10, respectively for per functional unit—consisting of 1000PLA express bags with the size of 25×35cm and the weight of 918 kg.Marine aquatic ecotoxicity was the main environmental impact in the life cycle of PLA, accounting for 77%, followed by abiotic depletion and human toxicity, accounting for 9% and 6% respectively. The main energy consumption was non-renewable energy, which accounted for 89% of the total energy consumption. Across all the stages considered, the use stage showed the dominant influence on non-renewable energy consumption with the contribution of 91%. Disposal scenario V (incineration 47%, landfill 13%, recycling 40%) was the most environmentally friendly among the five disposal scenarios, indicating that the increase in the proportion of incineration and recycling and decrease in the proportion of landfill showed a more positive impact on the environment.
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