Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Plastic Cosmetic Packaging: A Multi-Attribute Life Cycle Assessment

Abstract

The global packaging industry has been growing significantly, resulting in an increase in waste and emissions. Social responsibilities, regulations and targets are shifting companies’ priorities to various sustainable practices. This study comprised a life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify and compare key initiatives influencing the sustainability of plastic cosmetic packaging. The life cycle environmental effects of dematerialisation, recycled content, energy-saving initiatives and renewable energy powering the manufacturing processes, and the end-of-life (EoL) recycling rates of various scenarios, were evaluated. Moreover, a variety of fossil-based and bio-based polymers, such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), wood–polymer composite (WPC) and polylactic acid (PLA), were considered. The study determined that dematerialisation and recycled content had the most beneficial impacts on packaging sustainability. When 100% recycled materials were used, an overall impact reduction of 42–60% was noted for all the materials considered. Using 100% renewable energy and applying measures to reduce the energy consumption in the manufacturing stage by 50% reduced the total impact by approximately 9–17% and 7–13%, respectively. Furthermore, it was concluded that PP had the lowest environmental impacts in the majority of the case scenarios considered, by an average of 46%.