Environmental impact estimation of Al-PE-Pa complex package using life cycle assessment.

The environmental impact of complex packages made of aluminum,polyethylene and paper board(Al-PE-Pa) and plastic packages were estimated using life cycle assessment(LCA) and compared.The input and output streams of mass and energy,as well as the environmental emission,were obtained from literatures and field investigation.Environmental impact of Al-PE-Pa and plastic package were 5.225Pt and 4.670Pt,respectively.In the entire life cycle of these two selected packages,the environmental impact raising from raw materials supply was highest,accounting for 80% of total environmental impact of their life cycle.The environmental impact of plastic package on fossil resources consumption was two times as that of complex package.However,it could be hard to decrease the environmental pressure from plastic packages because the fossil is a non-renewable resource and confronted with exhausted circumstances.Comparatively,Al-PE-Pa complex package caused more environmental impact because of lower recovery and reuse,which can be improved by developing material recovery or other appropriate recycling technology to improve the cyclic materials flows and recycling ratio.