According to the new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of metal packaging including steel closures, steel aerosols, steel general line, aluminum beverage cans, aluminum and steel food cans, and specialty packaging, which has completed by the association of Metal Packaging Europe. The assessment involves the life cycle of metal packaging produced in Europe on the basis of production data of 2018, basically through the whole process from the extraction of raw material, the manufacturing of product, to the end-of-life.
The new assessment reveals that the metal packaging industry has a significant reductions in greenhouse gases emissions by comparison with the previous Life Cycle Assessments, and it also confirmed the commitment to reduce carbon emissions and to decouple production from its carbon footprint. There are four important factors may cause the reductions as follow:
1. Weight reduction for can, e.g. 1% for steel food cans, and 2% for aluminum beverage cans;
2. Recycling rates increase for both aluminum and steel packaging, e.g. 76% for beverage can, 84% for steel packaging;
3. Improving the raw material production over time;
4. Improving the can production processes, as well as the energy and resource efficiency.
On the climate change side, the study pointed out that the aluminum beverage cans had an impact on climate change has been reduced by around 50% during the time from 2006 to 2018.
Take the steel packaging as an example, the study shows that the impact on climate change during the time from 2000 to 2018 has been reduced by:
1. Less than 20% for aerosol can (2006 – 2018);
2. Over 10% for speciality packaging;
3. Over 40% for closures;
4. Over 30% for food cans and general line packaging.
Besides the mentioned noteworthy achievements above, a further 8% reduction in greenhouse gases emissions has been attained by the tinplate industry in Europe during the time from 2013 to 2019.
Post time: Jun-07-2022
