DRINKS PACKAGING
Germany's ifeu puts single-use PET bottle on a par with returnable glass bottles / New life cycle assessment
More than two thirds of Germany’s mineral water is bottled in disposable PET bottles, a new life cycle assessment by the German energy and environmental research institute ifeu (Heidelberg; www.ifeu.de/english) has found. What’s more, a little more than 80% of these PET beverage containers have an ecological equivalence with multi use glass bottles, echoing a recent study by the US PET Resin Association (PETRA, New York City; www.petresin.org) – see Plasteurope.com of 12.04.2010.
![]() Jürgen Bruder (Photo: PIE) |
“There is no reason to defame the single use PET bottle as ‘climate killer’”, says Jürgen Bruder, managing director of the German industry association Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK, Bad Homburg; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de). In the latest life cycle assessment, one-way PET bottles improved by between 30-50% the evaluation they had received in the previous study, conducted in 2008.
In the crucial field of effects on climate change and ecological impact, ifeu’s new study found that one-way PET bottles managed to save an additional 14% of weight in 2009. In addition, the content of recyclable PET is constantly increasing, now up to between 25-35%. Other reasons why this latest life cycle assessment puts 1.5 l one-way PET bottles on a par with 0.7 l reusable glass bottles include a shortening of distribution distances and lower energy consumption.
In the crucial field of effects on climate change and ecological impact, ifeu’s new study found that one-way PET bottles managed to save an additional 14% of weight in 2009. In addition, the content of recyclable PET is constantly increasing, now up to between 25-35%. Other reasons why this latest life cycle assessment puts 1.5 l one-way PET bottles on a par with 0.7 l reusable glass bottles include a shortening of distribution distances and lower energy consumption.
![]() | |
21.04.2010 Plasteurope.com [216037]
Published on 21.04.2010