Packaging Waste Management: Life Cycle Analysis of Various Packaging Materials in Greece and their Consequences on the Quality of the Environment

The dissertation concerns the assessment of the environmental consequences of packaging materials in Greece, across their entire life cycle. For this purpose the methodology of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is used. The concept of LCA is to evaluate the environmental effects associated with any given product or activity from the initial gathering of raw materials from the earth until the point at which all residuals are returned to the earth. The products that examined and compared are nine table water bottles of the Greek market from glass, PET, PVC and HDPE in various sizes. A mathematical model is constructed according to the methodological issues and guidelines of the inventory component of LCA and, after data collection, the total results are calculated: resource requirements (energy and raw materials consumption) and environmental loadings (atmospheric and waterborne emissions and solid wastes). The major sources of data are the industry for production processes and the municipalities and trade associations for solid waste management and recycling. Technical books, reports, conference papers and articles published in technical journals have also been used providing data and information on processes in the system. The dissertation also includes: * Methodology description and analysis, including a comprehensive presentation of the principles, the history, the goal definition and the scoping of LCA. * Literature review and critical analysis of several LCA studies, exclusively focused on packaging systems or compared various packaging materials. * Presentation of the relevant European policy. * Energy consumption and atmospheric emissions associated with any movement by road, rail, see and air transport that included in an LCA study. * Useful data about the production and the delivery efficiencies of many fuel types, as well as, the feedstock energy by taking into consideration the contribution of the energy content of input materials.

Where to find

University of Piraeus, Department of Business Administration 80, Karaoli & Dimitriou Street ø 185 34 Piraeus, Greece Tel: +30 1 41 42 000 ø Fax: +30 1 41 42 328 E-mail: ode-secr@unipi.gr

Filed under

Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment