LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 3B: PACKAGING 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
A multicriteria analysis for food packaging end-of-life optimisation
based on a configurable life cycle assessment approach
Claude Emma Komly 1 , Catherine Azzaro-Pantel 2 , Antoine Hubert 1 , Alan Jean-Marie 1 , Valérie Archambault 1
1
Altran Research, 2 rue Paul Vaillant Couturier, 92300 Levallois-Perret, France
2
Université de Toulouse, Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, UMR 5503 CNRS/INPT/UPS, 4 all. E. Monso, 31432 Toulouse Cedex 4,
France
Corresponding author. E-mail: Catherine.AzzaroPantel@ensiacet.fr
ABSTRACT
A model based on life-cycle assessment results is developed to assess the environmental efficiency of the end-of-life management of
a food packaging: polyethylene terephtalate (PET) bottles. The global environmental impacts associated with the treatment of PET
bottles from their cradle to ultimate graves (incineration, landfilled, recycling by mechanical, chemical or thermal processes) are
computed in function of the flow of bottles in the different valorisation paths. Genetic algorithms are used to solve the resulting
multi-objectives. A decision support tool then determines the best compromise among the set of solutions. The model is applied to
the case of France in 2010. The variables that minimize simultaneously abiotic depletion, acidification and global warming potential
are determined, in particular the number of recycling loops. The approach can be easily adapted to any specific product like biobased
food packaging or organic wastes to find the optimal allocation between valorisation paths.
Keywords: life cycle assessment, food packaging, recycling, multi-criteria analysis, genetic algorithm
1. Introduction
This study proposes the development of a mathematical model based on LCA results to assess the environmental
efficiency of the end-of-life management of a common food packaging, i.e. Polyethylene terephalate
(PET) bottles. For this purpose, multi-objective optimisation involving Genetic Algorithms and decision
support tools were used to define optimal targets for efficient waste management.
This issue is of first importance for food packaging companies which have to deal with their products sustainability
all along their life cycle; their products being in competition more and more with tap water.
This model can be easily adapted to any other food packaging, or any specific product like bio-based
plastics or organic wastes to find the optimal allocation between valorisation paths, or between supply paths
(for instance supply of a bio-refinery), in order to minimize the associated environmental impacts.
2. Methods
The model developed in this work computes the global environmental impacts associated with the treatment
of PET bottles (expressed in kg) from cradle to ultimate graves, i.e. either incineration or landfill, in
function of the flow of bottles in the different valorisation paths.
After each use, PET bottles can be landfilled, incinerated, or recycled by mechanical, chemical or thermal
processes. Each recycling process leads to a different product e.g. fibres, films, bottles, chemicals, fuels (Al-
Salem et al., 2009)
Fig. 1 shows these different paths, di being the decision variables dealing with the waste flow repartition:
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