Ecobalance For Beverage Packaging (In German)

Findings of a 3.5/year study on the ecological aspects of milk and beer packaging, undertaken by the Fraunhofer-Inst fuer Lebensmitteltechnologie, the Institut fuer Enegie und Umweltforschung and the Gesellschaft fuer Verpackungsmarkeforschung are summarized. Data provided compare brick and gable cartons, multi-trip glass bottles and plastics pouches for milk with respect to emission into the atmosphere of fossil CO2, hydrocarbons, CO, NOx, SOx, dust and dioxin/furans during the whole production, transport and utilisation cycles, and also the release into surface waters of haloorganic compounds, hydrocarbons, P and N, as well as the relevant biological and chemical oxygen demand values. Multi-trip glass bottles showed a distinct advantage.