Plastic, aluminum, glass or paper: which packaging is more environmentally friendly

Garbage planet

Despite the efforts of the global community, the problem of environmental pollution with garbage remains one of the most pressing. To clearly demonstrate its scale, UN experts give an illustrative comparison: if you collect all the solid household waste generated in one year and pack it into standard shipping containers, and then place them close to each other, you can cover the globe 25 times.

And in solving this problem, we cannot underestimate the role of each person — for example, you can give preference to goods in packaging that would cause minimal harm to the environment. However, there are difficulties with eco-awareness: not everyone knows how to choose the right packaging with the smallest environmental footprint.

Paper cup with a double bottom

Paper packaging has been gaining popularity in recent years. This can be seen, for example, in public opinion polls: according to the non-profit organization Two Sides North America, which unites paper manufacturers, half of the respondents in the United States said that paper and cardboard are better for the environment than other types of packaging.

These trends do not go unnoticed by major brands — Nestle and Pepsico are investing heavily in new types of paper packaging, thereby responding to consumer expectations.

In total, according to some estimates, about 265 million tons of paper packaging were produced in 2022, while in 2010 — only 203 million tons. Thus, the demand for paper is becoming increasingly obvious.

Such popularity of paper packaging is observed due to the fact that consumers associate it with caring for nature and ease of recycling. For example, it is believed that a paper bag thrown out on the street will decompose faster than a plastic one. In fact, with paper packaging, not everything is so clear-cut.

One of the main disadvantages of paper is that its production requires deforestation, which is not restored in all countries. According to experts, from 2010 to 2020, the net loss of forest resources amounted to 4.7 million hectares annually — although the main driver of deforestation is the agricultural sector, which needs new land, paper production also contributes to these volumes of lost forests.

Another obvious disadvantage is that paper packaging is easily torn, and after contact with moisture, it is no longer suitable for use at all. They are trying to make it more durable by covering it with a layer of plastic. The most common example is takeaway coffee cups. Such packaging with a thin polymer layer inside is a multicomponent material (paper + plastic), so it is very difficult to recycle. To do this, you first need to separate the plastic from the paper, and there are almost no such technologies in the country.

Aluminum can with a secret

If at the moment paper cups cannot become a panacea, then another alternative is often offered — aluminum containers, which are used both for pouring drinks and in cosmetology or preserving vegetables and fruits.

Supporters of this type of packaging emphasize that aluminum bottles are lightweight, durable and recyclable, which ensures a long shelf life of products. Experts from the World Economic Forum also particularly draw attention to the fact that up to 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still in circulation, and its processing requires 95% less energy than the production of primary aluminum.

At the same time, scientists remind: aluminum production is associated with a serious negative impact on nature. Thus, the production of aluminum from primary raw materials requires more energy than any other industrial production method, and emits a large amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. In addition, half of the processed ore ends up in waste.

Aluminum in its pure form is not used to make cans, as a number of researchers attribute to it a significant role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases and a significant impact on the human body, especially children. To prevent contact with open aluminum, for example, in beverage cans, they were invented to cover them from the inside with a thin protective layer of polymer resins — in other words, a layer of plastic. The protective plastic layer helps to preserve the advantages and convenience of this container, while leveling the negative impact of aluminum on the body.

Glass’s opaque reputation

Given that aluminum cans are not without negative environmental impacts, another alternative comes to mind: glass bottles, a popular solution for storing liquid products. This material has many strengths.

First of all, glass is a material that does not lose its properties for many years. For example, in 2021, archaeologists found the oldest known bottle of wine in the world — it was discovered during excavations of a Roman tomb near Speyer, Germany. The 1.5-liter glass bottle was poured and sealed in 325–350 AD.

In addition, glass can be recycled many times without losing product quality, although the total loss of glass at all stages of processing can exceed 30% of the total volume. It is also convenient that almost all types of glass products can be recycled, with the exception of mirrors, dishes, and windows.

Finally, an important aspect is that glass recycling is not the most complicated process from a technological point of view. According to Stanislav Chesnokov, Head of the Standardization and Testing Department at the Glass Institute, the technology consists of several stages: collection, sorting, crushing, and melting.

However, this type of packaging also has serious drawbacks. Thus, in a collective study, scientists compared the ecological footprint of several types of packaging — glass, plastic, aluminum, and cardboard. The carbon footprint of a glass bottle is 1,176 kg, while that of an aluminum can is 887 kg, and that of a plastic container is 436 kg.

The researchers’ observations were not in favor of glass: its production process requires high temperatures (about 1,500 °C) and includes the extraction of raw materials such as silica sand, soda, and dolomite. This leads to an increase in the amount of greenhouse gases, which accelerates global warming, and other negative consequences: land degradation and water pollution as a result of extraction.

Even though glass can be recycled many times, its ecological footprint is still high due to the energy required to process and produce new bottles from recycled glass.

Not all plastics are the same

Plastic packaging is widely perceived as one of the main threats to the environment. For example, in a December 2023 survey conducted by Rosselkhozbank, 77% of respondents noted that they try to choose packaging made of various eco-materials for New Year’s gifts.

The disadvantages of plastic packaging have long been known: the material does not decompose for a long time and often ends up in nature. For example: according to scientists from the Dutch University of Utrecht, today the total amount of plastic in the world’s waters is estimated at more than 25 million tons.

Another cause for concern: the problem of microplastics. It mainly enters the human body from car tires (a person can inhale these microparticles) and when washing clothes, from where the particles end up in the sewer and then in the water, but plastic dishes also play a role. However, there is no clear answer to date about the harm or safety of microplastics.

At the same time, plastic packaging has a number of advantages: plastic is durable and lightweight, which allows you to transport more products with fewer resources. This gives scientists the right to say that the carbon footprint of plastic is much smaller than that of glass.

For example: lower energy intensity of production and light weight of plastic (transporting 14 thousand liters of water in half-liter plastic bottles over a distance of 1600 km requires 355 liters less fuel than transporting the same volume of water in glass containers) lead to a smaller carbon footprint compared to glass or metal.

A recent study by scientists for the University of Sheffield (UK) showed that plastic products in 15 out of 16 studied application areas produce fewer greenhouse emissions compared to aluminum and glass alternatives. At the same time, the reduction in CO2 emissions varies from 10 to 90% throughout the entire life cycle of the product.

In addition, today plastic recycling is often much better organized than other packaging, and its value on the secondary raw materials market is growing. For example, in the European Union in 2018, out of 100% of plastic waste, 42% were recycled to obtain energy (electricity or steam), 32% of waste was recycled to create new products, and only 25% was buried in landfills.

High public attention to the material stimulates manufacturers and science to develop technologies for recycling plastic waste. Even now, modern plastics can be recycled several times, and with the development of technology, plastic waste can be completely decomposed into the original raw material and reassembled into new products. And to increase the percentage of recycling of plastic packaging, experts recommend using the so-called “honest plastic” — a unified and labeled material that is easy to collect, sort and recycle, returning to the production cycle.

The problem of choice

When analyzing the pros and cons of each type of packaging in detail, it becomes obvious that choosing the most environmentally friendly material is not so easy. The main recommendation of experts is to take into account the national context.

After all, even in EU countries, where supranational rules for waste management are in force, which should be the same for everyone, the level of recycling of the same plastic varies significantly from country to country: in 2021, Slovenia (50.0%), Belgium (49.2%) and the Netherlands (48.9%) recycled half or almost half of the plastic waste generated, while in Malta (20.5%), France (23.1%) and Sweden (23.8%) less than a quarter of plastic packaging waste was recycled.

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the thoughts and opinions of leading Sustainability & Energy writers, their opinions do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

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