TY - JOUR
T1 - Packaging environmental impact on seafood supply chains
T2 - A review of life cycle assessment studies
AU - Almeida, Cheila
AU - Loubet, Philippe
AU - da Costa, Tamíris Pacheco
AU - Quinteiro, Paula
AU - Laso, Jara
AU - Baptista de Sousa, David
AU - Cooney, Ronan
AU - Mellett, Sinead
AU - Sonnemann, Guido
AU - Rodríguez, Carlos José
AU - Rowan, Neil
AU - Clifford, Eoghan
AU - Ruiz-Salmón, Israel
AU - Margallo, María
AU - Aldaco, Rubén
AU - Nunes, Maria Leonor
AU - Dias, Ana Cláudia
AU - Marques, António
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Industrial Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Society for Industrial Ecology.
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Packaging is fundamental for food preservation and transportation but generates an environmental burden from its production and end-of-life management. This review evaluates packaging contribution to the environmental performance of seafood products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies were evaluated by both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis assessed how direct (e.g., packaging material) and indirect impacts (e.g., influence on seafood loss and waste) have been considered, while the quantitative analysis evaluated packaging contribution to products’ weight and climate change impact. Qualitative analysis revealed that seafood LCAs focus mainly on direct environmental impacts arising from packaging materials, for which some articles conducted sensitivity analysis to assess materials substitution. Recycling was found to be the most common recommendation to diminish direct potential environmental impacts arising from packaging end-of-life. However, standardized recovery rates and other end-of-life options (e.g., reuse), should be considered. Quantitative analysis revealed that cans' production contributes significantly to the overall climate change impact for canned products. On average, it contributes to 42% of a product's climate change impact and 27% of a product's weight. Packaging has a lower contribution when considering freezing, chilling, and other post-harvesting processing. It represents on average less than 5% of a product's climate change impact (less than 1 kg CO2 eq/kg) and 6% of a product's weight. Packaging material production is more relevant to aluminum, tinplate, and glass than for plastic and paper. Therefore, it is essential to accurately include these materials and their associated processes in inventories to improve the environmental assessment of seafood products.
AB - Packaging is fundamental for food preservation and transportation but generates an environmental burden from its production and end-of-life management. This review evaluates packaging contribution to the environmental performance of seafood products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) studies were evaluated by both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis assessed how direct (e.g., packaging material) and indirect impacts (e.g., influence on seafood loss and waste) have been considered, while the quantitative analysis evaluated packaging contribution to products’ weight and climate change impact. Qualitative analysis revealed that seafood LCAs focus mainly on direct environmental impacts arising from packaging materials, for which some articles conducted sensitivity analysis to assess materials substitution. Recycling was found to be the most common recommendation to diminish direct potential environmental impacts arising from packaging end-of-life. However, standardized recovery rates and other end-of-life options (e.g., reuse), should be considered. Quantitative analysis revealed that cans' production contributes significantly to the overall climate change impact for canned products. On average, it contributes to 42% of a product's climate change impact and 27% of a product's weight. Packaging has a lower contribution when considering freezing, chilling, and other post-harvesting processing. It represents on average less than 5% of a product's climate change impact (less than 1 kg CO2 eq/kg) and 6% of a product's weight. Packaging material production is more relevant to aluminum, tinplate, and glass than for plastic and paper. Therefore, it is essential to accurately include these materials and their associated processes in inventories to improve the environmental assessment of seafood products.
KW - canning
KW - fish
KW - food packaging
KW - industrial ecology
KW - life cycle assessment
KW - plastic
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113338678&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jiec.13189
DO - 10.1111/jiec.13189
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85113338678
SN - 1088-1980
VL - 26
SP - 1961
EP - 1978
JO - Journal of Industrial Ecology
JF - Journal of Industrial Ecology
IS - 6
ER -