Single-use plastic bottles and their alternatives - Life Cycle Initiative

Single-use plastic bottles and their alternatives ?

Recommendations from Life Cycle Assessments

Copyright ? United Nations Environment Programme, 2020 Credits ? Photos: This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. The United Nations Environment Programme would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or for any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the United Nations Environment Programme.

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The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations Environment Programme concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Moreover, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the decision or the stated policy of the United Nations Environment Programme, nor does citing of trade names or commercial processes constitute endorsement.

Suggested citation: (UNEP 2020). United Nations Environment Programme (2020). Single-use plastic bottles and their alternatives. Recommendations from Life Cycle Assessments.

Single-use plastic bottles and their alternatives ?

Recommendations from Life Cycle Assessments

Single-use plastic bOTTLES and their alternatives

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Acknowledgements

Authors: Gustav Sandin, Sofiia Miliutenko, Christin Liptow (IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute AB)

Reviewers: Bengt Lundin (BillerudKorsn?s), Stewart Harris (American Chemistry Council), Guy Castelan (Plastics Europe), Christian Junestedt (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency),Yoichi Kodera (Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST)), Nils Heuer (UNEP), Julia Koskella (systemiq), Henry King (Unilever), Eva Ahlner (Swedish Environmental Protection Agency), Beatriz Carneiro (UNEP).

This publication is commissioned and supervised by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Life Cycle Initiative (Economy Division): Lloren? Mil? i Canals, Claudia Giacovelli, Feng Wang, Jos?phine Courtois, Oumayma Ouzane

Recommended citation: United Nations Environment Programme (2020). Single-use plastic bottles and their alternatives ? Recommendations from Life Cycle Assessments.

Design and layout: creativevision.co.za

This publication has been developed with the kind financial contribution of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Copyright ? United Nations Environment Programme, 2020

This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit services without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. United Nations Environment Programme would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source. No use of this publication may be made for resale or any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from the United Nations Environment Programme. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Communication Division, United Nations Environment Programme, P. O. Box 30552, Nairobi 00100, Kenya.

Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of United Nations Environment Programme concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Mention of a commercial company or product in this document does not imply endorsement by the United Nations Environment Programme or the authors. The use of information from this document for publicity or advertising is not permitted. Trademark names and symbols are used in an editorial fashion with no intention on infringement of trademark or copyright laws. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Environment Programme. We regret any errors or omissions that may have been unwittingly made.

This report has been reviewed and approved in accordance with IVL's audited and approved management system.

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Single-use plastic bOTTLES and their alternatives

Table of contents

1Introduction

09

1.1 Background.................................................................................................. 10 1.2 Purpose, scope and method...........................................................................11 1.3 LCA method in brief....................................................................................... 13

2Meta-analysis of the LCA studies

14

2.1 LCA studies comparing different types of single-use plastic bottles.......................................................................... 16

2.1.1 Virgin, recycled, and bio-based PET bottles (Benavides et al. 2018)....................................................................... 16

2.1.2 Fossil and bio-based PET bottles (Chen et al. 2016)............................. 17

2.1.3 PLA and PET drinking water bottles (Papong et al. 2014)......................20

2.2 LCA studies comparing single-use plastic bottles with beverage containers made of other materials.........................................22

2.2.1 PET, HDPE, PP, glass and carton packaging systems (Schlecht et al. 2018, 2019)................................................................22

2.2.2 Glass bottles, aluminium cans and PET bottles (Amienyo et al. 2013)..........................................................................24

2.2.3 Studies of reusable steel and aluminium bottles.................................26

2.3 LCA studies comparing single-use plastic bottles and non-container means for providing drinking water................................... 27

2.3.1 PET bottles and non-container means for providing drinking water (Garcia-Suarez et al. 2019)........................................... 27

3Conclusions

29

3.1 Environmental impacts of single-use plastic bottles and their alternatives....................................................................................30

3.1.1 Comparisons of different single-use plastic bottles..............................30

3.1.2 Comparisons of single-use plastic bottles and beverage containers made of other materials...................................... 31

3.1.3 Comparisons of plastic bottles and non-container means for providing drinking water.....................................................32

3.2 Important aspects in life cycle assessments of plastic bottles and their alternatives.................................................................................... 33

3.3 Important aspects in policy making...............................................................36

References

38

Single-use plastic bOTTLES and their alternatives

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