Life cycle assessment of secondary packaging: Expanded polystyrene versus bioplastic-coated corrugated cardboard

Recent European regulations have imposed ecological alternatives to the packaging of expanded polystyrene (EPS) dairy products. In this study we explore the opportunity to replace the expanded polystyrene packaging, with a corrugated cardboard coated with bioplastic for the storage and transport of cheese and mozzarella. Life cycle analysis (LCA) indicates that the use of bioplastic coated corrugated board could significantly reduce the packaging's carbon footprint. Corrugated board has a lower environmental impact than polystyrene, except for the ecosystem quality indicator. This indicator is worse for corrugated because of the impacts associated with the cultivation of corn and sugar cane needed for bioplastics production, as well as the deforestation associated with paper production. EPS, on the other hand, is more impactful due to oil extraction and disposal processes such as landfill and incineration. From the analysis of defined sensitivity by increasing the percentage of composting and recycling, there is an improvement in the environmental performance of coated board, even in critical categories. Therefore, the latter scenario is the ideal and desired solution to obtain the replacement of EPS packaging with bioplastic coated cardboard.