The main report brings together a comparative life cycle assessment of packaging systems for beer and carbonated soft drinks filled and sold in Denmark. It updates earlier investigations from 1992–1996 and considers the potential environmental impacts of different existing and alternative packaging systems. The comparison covers refillable and disposable glass bottles, refillable and disposable PET bottles, and steel and aluminium cans. The project is presented as a main report supported by technical reports for individual packaging types and a report on energy and transport scenarios.
The assessment follows the packaging service through its life cycle, including the production of packaging materials and containers, packaging and filling operations, distribution, and the handling of used packaging. The package-specific reports use a functional unit based on packaging and distribution for 1,000 litres of beverage. This common basis allows alternatives to be compared while keeping the delivered beverage quantity consistent. The technical reports describe the assumptions and inventory data behind individual container systems; the main report brings these strands together for interpretation.
The results relate to the Danish market and the conditions represented in the 1998 study. They depend on the modelled packaging systems and on assumptions about such factors as container design, transport, energy supply, return and recycling. A result for one container type should therefore be read within the study’s defined scope and alongside its scenario assumptions, rather than treated as a universal ranking of packaging materials. The report is a historical assessment and does not describe today’s packaging formats, collection systems or production data.
