Singh Arvind Kumar, Aboo Shamna, Goswami Tinku, Kar Gouranga
Crop Production Division, ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibre, Nilganj, Barrackpore, Kolkata, West Bengal, -700121, India.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 May;30(22):61904-61912. doi: 10.1007/s11356-023-26436-0. Epub 2023 Mar 18.
Increasing demand for shopping and packaging carrier bags has given rise to various issues relating to its disposal as well as to the overall environmental footprint and sustainability of the packaging materials. This study assesses the carbon footprint and life cycle environmental impacts of the production, usage, and disposal of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and two natural fibre carrier bags (jute and kenaf). Life cycle assessment study was conducted of all inputs and outputs, aggregated in the form of resources used and environmental emissions, extending from the production of raw materials to the final disposal of the product. The carbon footprint and GHG emissions of jute and kenaf carrier bags were estimated using the CO, NO, and CH emissions coefficients of inputs. Research literature from life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results was used to determine the effects of LDPE polyethylene packaging material. It was observed that the global warming potential (GWP) for the production of 1 kg of LDPE (100 micron) carrier bag (39.4 kg COeq) is more than 490 times higher than jute and kenaf carrier bags. In general, LDPE materials have the greatest impact on the carbon footprint and resource depletion. The LDPE material also has the highest impacts on indicators of terrestrial ecotoxicity, photochemical oxidation, acidification, and eutrophication as compared to jute and kenaf fibres. Since jute and kenaf are natural fibres, they sequester a substantial quantity of carbon during their agricultural stages. As a result, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission emissions of jute and kenaf were found to be negative. Popularising the use of jute and kenaf products as alternatives to plastic in industrialised countries would benefit the reduction of plastic waste and its negative environmental effects. Additional production of jute and kenaf fibre, which are already available in major bast fibre producing countries like India and Bangladesh, could meet the demand for fibre-based carrier bags.
购物袋和包装用手提袋需求的不断增加，引发了与这些袋子的处置、包装材料的整体环境足迹和可持续性相关的各种问题。本研究评估了低密度聚乙烯（LDPE）以及两种天然纤维手提袋（黄麻和红麻）在生产、使用和处置过程中的碳足迹及生命周期环境影响。对所有投入和产出进行了生命周期评估研究，这些投入和产出以资源使用和环境排放的形式汇总，范围从原材料生产到产品的最终处置。利用输入的CO、NO和CH排放系数估算了黄麻和红麻手提袋的碳足迹和温室气体排放。生命周期影响评估（LCIA）结果的研究文献被用于确定LDPE聚乙烯包装材料的影响。据观察，生产1千克LDPE（100微米）手提袋的全球变暖潜能值（GWP）（39.4千克CO₂当量）比黄麻和红麻手提袋高出490倍以上。总体而言，LDPE材料对碳足迹和资源消耗的影响最大。与黄麻和红麻纤维相比，LDPE材料对陆地生态毒性、光化学氧化、酸化和富营养化指标的影响也最大。由于黄麻和红麻是天然纤维，它们在农业阶段会吸收大量碳。因此，发现黄麻和红麻的温室气体排放为负。在工业化国家推广使用黄麻和红麻产品替代塑料，将有助于减少塑料垃圾及其负面环境影响。印度和孟加拉国等主要韧皮纤维生产国已有黄麻和红麻纤维可供额外生产，这可以满足对纤维基手提袋的需求。
