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

GROUP 3, SESSION A: LABELLING, CONSUMERS, DIET 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
786
87. EPD of extra-virgin olive oil: an Italian experience
Giulio Mario Cappelletti 1 , Giuseppe Martino Nicoletti 1 , Alessandro Leone 2 , Giuseppe Lopriore 3 , Carlo
Russo *
1 Dipartimento di Scienze Economico-Aziendali, Giuridiche, Merceologiche e Geografiche (SEAGMeG) –
Università degli Studi di Foggia - Via Caggese, 1 – 71121 Foggia, Italy, 2 Dipartimento di Dipartimento di
Scienze Agro-Ambientali, Chimica e Difesa Vegetale (DiSACD) – Università degli Studi di Foggia - Via
Napoli, 25 – 71122 Foggia, Italy, 3 Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni e dell'Innovazione nei Sistemi
Agro-alimentari Mediterranei (PRIME) – Università degli Studi di Foggia - Via Napoli, 25 – 71122 Foggia,
Italy, Corresponding author. E-mail: c.russo@unifg.it
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a document based on the ISO 14025 standards; it contains
information about environmental performance related to a product. The quantification of environmental performance
is calculated using Life Cycle Assessment methodology, thus following the principle guides of ISO
14040 standards. Nowadays many EPDs have been issued by the International EPD System®, especially for
the agro-food sector, due to the increased interest of companies and customers in this environmental communication
tool. Recently, the EPD has also been made available for extra-virgin olive oil (PCR 2010).
To obtain the EPD, LCA methodology was applied to the life cycle of a pitted extra-virgin olive oil packed
in a 1-litre glass bottle. The functional unit (FU) is 1 litre of extra-virgin olive oil, while the system boundaries
include: a) the olive production (agricultural phase), b) the transportation of the olives from the olive
grove to the oil mill, c) the process used for producing pitted extra-virgin olive oil (industrial phase), d) the
packaging process involving putting the oil into 1-litre glass bottles, e) transportation to distribution, f) the
“end of life” of the product and packaging disposal. An allocation procedure was only carried out for the
phases of olive oil extraction and packaging (CORE); this distinguished between: olive oil, pomace and pit.
Allocation was calculated considering two factors: mass and economic value of the co-product.
Data referring to the production of the raw material are all primary data, exception for the information about
fuels, lubricants, and machines, for which the ecoinvent v.2 database was used. As for transportation, distances
were estimated by referring to average values, while emissions were calculated by using the PE –
International database (updated July 2010). Data relating to olive oil production are all primary data directly
collected in the oil mill. As far as electricity production is concerned, the Italian power grid mix derives from
the literature (AEEG and GSE, 2011). Data referring to packaging production comes from the Plastic Europe
and PE-International database. As for the “use phase”, the percentages of recovery and landfill disposal of
glass, as well as the data regarding cardboard and plastic, derive from reports published by the National
Packaging Consortium. Collected data were elaborated using GaBi 4.4 software, with reference to the functional
unit represented by 1 litre of pitted extra-virgin olive oil (weighing 0.92 kg) packed in a 1-L glass bottle.
To obtaining one litre of extra-virgin olive oil, 5.29 kg of olives, harvested on a surface of 18.9 m 2 , are
needed. In accordance with the indications of PCR clause 10, an environmental impact assessment was carried
out distinguishing the use of resources, potential environmental impact and other indicators. The agricultural
phase would benefit from more non-renewable material and energy resources, while the extraction
process requires more renewable material resources, water and electricity. Finally, the packaging phase
would need more renewable energy resources. The feedstock energy is only linked to the PVC production: it
is almost 0.003 kg of crude oil and 0.002 kg of natural gas per functional unit.
As for the assessment of the potential environmental impacts, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) is more
affected by the agricultural phase, followed by the packaging phase. This impact derives from the fuel consumption
(for the soil cultivation) and from the production process of the primary packaging (glass bottle
and PVC capsule). The value of CO2 equiv. per FU is over 1 kg, and over 50% of this derives from the oliveproduction
while 30% derives from the packaging: The same trend is detected for the categories of Acidification,
Photochemical Ozone Creation and Abiotic Depletion, while, as far as the Ozone Layer Depletion is
concerned, the packaging phase is the most pollutant. As for Eutrophication, the most pollutant phase is the
olive oil extraction, due, in particular, to the higher pollutant charge of the wastewater (washing water, vegetation
water and water added in the extraction process). Analyzing the impact calculated as kg of phosphate
equiv., almost 90% of the total value per FU (about 16 g) is linked to the extraction phase (wastewater).
As for the impact categories referring to toxicity, except for Terrestial Ecotoxicity, the packaging phase is
again the most pollutant. Here too, the explanation is linked to the production of the glass container, which
accounts for over 80% of the total impact.