Abstract
抽象
Sustainability in packaging has become a prominent concern in modern society. Within the packaging industry, the manufacturers tend to develop their new business models to facilitate innovations of bio-based packaging materials to replace the traditional fossil-derived plastic materials. In this study, a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) is conducted to compare the environmental impacts of the cradle-to-grave processes of the Ecoflower box, which is manufactured by the eco-material specialized company, Stora Enso Oyj, and the traditional fossil-derived plastic flower bucket. The amount of greenhouse gas emissions will be assessed and compared the life cycle processes between these two flower packaging materials. This study findings indicate that……………(summarise our result and finding here)
包装的可持续性已成为现代社会的一个突出问题。在包装行业内,制造商倾向于开发新的商业模式,以促进生物基包装材料的创新,以取代传统的化石衍生塑料材料。在这项研究中,进行了比较生命周期评估 (LCA),以比较由生态材料专业公司 Stora Enso Oyj 制造的 Ecoflower 盒子与传统化石衍生塑料花桶从摇篮到坟墓的过程对环境的影响。将评估温室气体排放量,并比较这两种花卉包装材料之间的生命周期过程。他的研究结果表明...............(在此处总结我们的结果和发现)
Introduction
介绍
Project Description
项目描述
The flower packaging market is one of the industries which requires high demand for packaging materials since customers around the world are highly demand on flowers for fun, festival celebration and special events. Foreseeing the future, it is expected that the flower packaging market will grow 5.3% annually by 2028. Facing the expanding demand on flower packaging materials and the increasing market preference on sustainable flower product packaging, the study aims to provide quantitative information on environmental impacts of Ecoflower box and plastic flower bucket in order to identify the most environmentally sustainable flower packaging options for flower retailers and customers.
鲜花包装市场是对包装材料需求量很大的行业之一 ,因为世界各地的客户都对鲜花有很高的需求,用于娱乐、节日庆典和特殊活动。展望未来,预计到 2028 年,鲜花包装市场将以每年 5.3% 的速度增长。面对对花卉包装材料不断增长的需求以及市场对可持续花卉产品包装的日益偏好,该研究旨在提供有关 Ecoflower 盒子和塑料花桶对环境影响的定量信息,以便为花卉零售商和客户确定最环保的花卉包装选择。
Key Objectives of the Project
项目的主要目标
To demonstrate how Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can identify, quantify and evaluate the environmental impact of flower packaging
展示 生命周期评估 (LCA) 如何识别、量化和评估 花卉包装对环境的影响
To promote the most sustainable flower packaging option to consumer
向消费者推广最可持续的鲜花包装选择
Major Benefits of the Project
项目的主要优势
Better evaluation of the impact of using paper and plastic flower packaging through LCA
通过 LCA 更好地评估使用纸质和塑料花卉包装的影响
Improve the environmental performance of the flower packaging by redirecting resources from plastic packaging production to paper one
通过将 资源从塑料包装生产转向纸质包装,提高花卉包装的环保性能
Facilitate communications and collaboration among stakeholders including suppliers, distributors, and customers for better decision making
促进利益相关者(包括供应商、分销商和客户)之间的沟通和合作,以便做出更好的决策
Establish a living case to reference or replicate in the future logistics industry
建立活生生的案例,在未来物流行业中借鉴或复制
Support marketing of EcoFlowerBox, the paper flower packaging solution
支持纸花包装解决方案 EcoFlowerBox 的营销
Approach
方法
This section presents the general scope of the project to achieve the objectives, including product description, functional units of the products, system boundary and the sources of data. LCA will be performed according to Environmental management – Life cycle assessment – Requirements and guidelines EN ISO 14044:2006+A2:2020
本节介绍了实现目标的项目的一般范围,包括产品描述、产品功能单元、系统边界和数据来源 LCA 将根据环境管理 - 生命周期评估 - 要求和指南 EN ISO 14044:2006+A2:2020 进行.
Product Description
产品描述
A plastic bucket made of polypropylene (PP Bucket) is the most common packaging solution for transporting flowers. To switch out the use of plastic during transportation, Stora Enso, a leading provider of renewable products in packaging, has developed an environmentally friendly solution – EcoFlowerBox (EFLB). It is a square box made from corrugated board, which consists of renewable materials. Table 1 shows the details of EFLB and PP Bucket for comparison.
聚丙烯烯制成的塑料桶 (PP Bucket) 是 运输货物最常见的包装解决方案。 为了在 运输过程中不使用塑料,包装领域可再生产品的领先供应商斯道拉恩索开发了一种环保解决方案——EcoFlowerBox (EFLB)。它是一个由瓦楞纸板制成的 square box,由可再生材料制成。表 1 显示了 EFLB 和 PP Bucket 的详细信息,以供比较。
Table 1. Description of EFLB and PP Bucket
表 1.EFLB 和 PP 桶说明
| EFLB EFLB (英语) (Stora Enso, 2023) (斯道拉恩索,2023 年) | PP Bucket PP 桶 (Dillewijn Zwapak BV, 2023 (Dillewijn Zwapak BV,2023 年 |
Mass per unit (g) 每单位质量 (g) | 126 | 96 |
Volume (L) 体积 (L) | 8 | 8 |
Dimensions (W x L x H mm) 尺寸(宽 x 长 x 高毫米) | 189 x 185 x 200 | 260 x 200 x 195 |
Major raw materials Major 原材料 | Wood pulp laminated with a plastic layer Wood 纸浆与塑料层层压 | 100% recycled polypropylene granulates 100% R回收 POLYPROP炔子颗粒 |
Color 颜色 | Beige and white 米色和白色 | Black 黑 |
Production location 生产地点 | Lahti mill, Finland 芬兰 Lahti 工厂 | Netherlands 荷兰 |
Customer location 客户所在地 | Finland 芬兰 | Finland 芬兰 |
Functional Unit
Both EFLB and PP Bucket are designed to transport tulips from the nursery greenhouse to retail stores. Three characteristics are important to assess the functionality of these containers: quality of being stackable, stability and water resistance. The quality of being stackable refers to the packaging capacity. The shape of the container plays a beneficial role as more boxes can fit on pallets compared to buckets due to its square and stackable structure, optimizing transportation capacity. Stability refers to the ability of the containers not to flip around during transportation. Water resistance refers to friction between the surface of containers and water particles. This is crucial since the containers need to keep sufficient water amount to maintain the freshness of tulips. Apart from storing tulips, there is another major function of these 2 types of buckets, the buckets are also used for storing adequate amount of water to keep the tulips fresh during the transportation process. The functional unit of these buckets is transporting 100 tulips and storing around 2-3cm water level per box. Tulips and their required water amount are selected as the representative flowers for this functional unit as tulips are easy to grow in a mass scale with high efficient hydroponic system developed commonly in the greenhouses in Finland. For example, according to the information a greenhouse in Finland, Partaharju Puutarha, its hydroponic system has produced 38 million cut tulip in the season 2021-2022, which is the flower species commonly planted and sell in Finland.
EFLB 和 PP Bucket 都设计用于将郁金香从苗圃温室运输到零售店评估这些容器的功能三个特性很重要:可堆叠的质量、稳定性和防水性。可堆叠的质量是指包装能力集装箱的形状起着有益的作用,因为与其方形和可堆叠的结构相比,托盘上可以容纳更多的箱子,从而优化了运输能力。稳定性是指集装箱在运输过程中不翻转的能力。防水性是指容器表面与水颗粒之间的摩擦。这一点至关重要,因为容器需要保持足够的水量以保持郁金香的新鲜度除了储存郁金香外,这两种类型的桶还有另一个主要功能,桶还用于储存足够的水,以保持郁金香在运输过程中的新鲜。这些桶的功能单元是运输 100 株郁金香,每箱储存约 2-3 厘米的水位 郁金香及其所需的水量被选为该功能单元的代表花,因为郁金香很容易大规模生长,采用芬兰温室中常见的高效水培系统。例如,根据芬兰一家温室 Partaharju Puutarha 的信息,其水培系统在 2021-20222 年季节生产了 3800 万株切割的郁金香,这是芬兰普遍种植和销售的花种。
System Boundary
系统 B基础
The study illustrates cradle-to-gave system boundaries of the both EFLB and PP Bucket.
该研究说明了 EFLB 和 PP 桶的摇篮到给定系统边界。
The first processes are raw material acquisition and product manufacturing process. For manufacturing PP bucket in the factory, the recycled pp granulate will undergo melting, inject to mould, cooling and dyeing processes. For producing Ecoflower Box, raw materials, such as LDPE and PET were used, and the processes include fluting and gluing of paper of the Ecoflower box. During the whole manufacturing process of Ecoflower box, the main energy sources are electricity and heat consumption.
第一个过程是原材料获取和产品制造过程。为了在工厂制造 PP 桶,回收的 pp 颗粒将进行熔化、注射到模具、冷却和染色过程。为了生产 Ecoflower Box,使用了 LDPE 和 PET 等原材料,其过程包括 Ecoflower Box纸张的瓦楞和胶合。在生态花箱的整个制造过程中,主要能源是电力和热量消耗。
After the manufacturing processes, the finished PP buckets and Ecoflower boxes are transport from producers to the greenhouse, the packed flower products will then transport from the greenhouse to the retailer. Retailer then transport the products to the consumers.
制造过程结束后,成品 PP 桶和 Ecoflower 盒子从生产商运输到温室,然后包装好的花卉产品将从温室运输到零售商。然后零售商将产品运输给消费者。
Finally, the dispose of the products will undergo recycling processes. The waste PP bucket will transport to recycling plants and incineration for further handling. In the end-of-life stage, the materials of the pp bucket can be recycled after sorting, cleaning, shredding or grinding, melting, cooling processes, and incinerate the waste which is not recyclable. The waste Ecoflower boxes were incinerated and recycled, and the heavy and light oils can be recovered from the refinery. The recycled cardboard and the recovered energies after recycling processes can be reused as an input of the manufacturing process.
最后,产品的处理将进行回收过程。废 PP 桶将运送到回收厂并焚烧以进行进一步处理。在报废阶段,pp 桶的材料经过分拣、清洁、切碎或研磨、熔化、冷却过程后可以回收利用,并焚烧不可回收的废物。废弃的 Ecoflower 盒子被焚烧和回收,重油和轻油可以从炼油厂回收。回收的纸板和回收过程后回收的能源可以再利用,作为制造过程的投入。
System Boundary of PP Bucket
PP 桶系统边界
System Boundary of Ecoflower Box
Ecoflower Box 的系统边界
Methodology and Source of Data
方法和数据来源
This LCA study including the Life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) and Life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) was performed in OpenLCA 2.0 software using the GreenDelta and Ecoinvent 3.9 databases. The framework of LCA is illustrated in Figure 1.
这项 LCA 研究包括寿险 存货分析 (LCI) 和寿险影响评估 (LCIA),是在 OpenLCA 2.0 软件中使用GreenDelta 和Ecoinvent 3.9 databases 进行的。LCA 的框架如图 1 所示。
Figure 1. Framework of LCA in this project
图 1.本项目中 LCA 的 Framewo rk
Results and Discussion
结果与讨论
Life Cycle Inventory
生命周期清单
(Please input)
(请输入)
Life Cycle Impact Assessment
生命周期影响评估
(Please input)
(请输入)
Interpretation of Results
结果解释
The carbon footprint comparison of flower containers highlights the significant influence of recycling rates on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Higher recycling rates lead to greater avoided emissions from material recovery, especially for the polypropylene (PP) bucket. When recycled at 100%, the PP bucket achieves higher avoided GHG emissions than the fiber-based flower box due to key factors. Recycling plastic consumes less energy than producing virgin plastic from fossil fuels, as it bypasses energy-intensive extraction and refining processes. Additionally, plastic’s higher fossil carbon content allows for greater emissions reductions when recycled, unlike the plant-based fiber in corrugated board, which has lower fossil carbon. Virgin plastic production is also more emission-intensive than corrugated board manufacturing. Moreover, the PP bucket offers higher energy recovery potential during incineration due to its superior heating value compared to corrugated board. These factors demonstrate the environmental advantages of recycling and energy recovery for plastic containers.
鲜花容器的碳足迹比较突出了回收率对温室气体 (GHG) 排放的重大影响。更高的回收率可以更好地避免材料回收产生的排放,尤其是聚丙烯 (PP) 桶。由于关键因素,当 PP 桶以 100% 回收时,PP 桶比纤维基花箱实现了更高的避免温室气体排放。回收塑料比从化石燃料生产原生塑料消耗的能源更少,因为它绕过了能源密集型的提取和精炼过程。此外,塑料的化石碳含量较高,与瓦楞纸板中的植物纤维不同,回收后可以减少更大的排放,而瓦楞纸板中的植物纤维则具有较低的化石碳。原生塑料生产也比瓦楞纸板制造排放更密集。此外,与瓦楞纸板相比,PP 桶具有更高的热值,因此在焚烧过程中具有更高的能量回收潜力。这些因素证明了塑料容器回收和能源回收的环境优势。
Future Research and/or Investigation
未来的研究和/或调查
References
引用
Lifecycle Inventory Analysis for PP buckett
PPBuckett 的 生命周期库存分析
Manufacturing: Input: PP pellets 、Labor、Energy (electricity, natural gas)
制造业:投入:PP颗粒、人工、能源(电力、天然气)
Output: PP buckets、 waste gases, waste water
输出:PP 桶、废气、废水
Process 过程 | Input 输入 | Output (Product and waste) 产量(产品和废物) | Output 输出 |
Manufacturing 制造业 | Recycled PP granulatespellets 、Labor、Energy (electricity, natural gas) 再生PP颗粒颗粒 、 人工 、 能源 (电力、天然气) | | PP buckets、 waste gases, Emissions from PP 桶、废气、排放物 production (GHG), waste water 产量 (GHG), 废水 |
Transportation 运输 | Packaged PP buckets、Transport vehicles、Fuel 、 Labor 包装PP桶、运输车、燃料、人工 | | Emissions from transportation(GHG) 运输排放 (GHG) |
Recycling 回收 | Discarded PP buckets、 Energy for recycling machine 废弃的PP桶、回收机用能源 | | Recycled PP materials 、 Plastic waste 再生 PP 材料 、 塑料废料 |
Incineration | | | Emissions from incineration 焚烧排放物 (GHG) (温室气体) |
| | | |
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095965262401223X
Life Cycle
生命周期
Thus:
因此:1/1000000*96*250kw=0.024kwh
100kg* 1/1000000*96=0.096kg
100公斤* 1/1000000*96=0.096公斤
Inventory List with Amount
包含数量的库存清单
| Natural gas to produce heat to melt the granulates 天然气产生热量以熔化颗粒 | Heat for 173 degree 热量为 173 度 96kg 96 公斤 | | |
| Electricity to inject the melted pp to the mold 将熔化的 pp 注入模具的电力 | 0.35 kwh 0.35 千瓦时 ?? | | |
Transporting pp bucket to greenhouse / garden 将 pp 桶运输到温室/花园 | Fuels: 燃料: Netherlands to Hamburg 荷兰至汉堡 | 300km300k 300 公里300 千米 | | |
| Fuels: 燃料: Hamburg to Helsinki 汉堡至赫尔辛基 | 1558km 1558公里 | | |
| Fuels: 燃料: Helsinki to Partaharju 赫尔辛基到帕塔哈朱(Helsinki - Partaharju) | 335km 335 公里 | | |
Transportation 运输 after filling the PP bucket with flower, from greenhouse to retail store 将 PP 桶装满鲜花后,从温室到零售店 | Partaharju to Vantaa (Retail store)Ecoflower boxes, Diesel, Labor Partaharju 到 Vantaa (零售店)Ecoflower 箱, 柴油, 人工 | Emissions from transportation(GHG) 运输排放 (GHG) | | |
Transportation 运输 From retail store to consumers 从零售店到消费者 | Fuels: 燃料: Vantaa to Finland 万塔(Vantaa)前往芬兰(Finland) | 200km 200 公里 | | |
Fill PP buckets with flower 用花朵装满 PP 桶 | Labour 劳动 | / | | |
Transportation of Waste PP buckets to central warehouse (retail) 将废 PP 桶运输到中央仓库(零售) | Fuels: Finland to Vantaa 燃料: 芬兰 - 万塔 | 200km 200 公里 | | |
Transportation of Waste PP buckets to EoL treatment (recycling plant and incinerator) 将废弃 PP 桶运输到 EoL 处理(回收厂和焚烧炉) | Fuels: Vantaa to Merikarvia 燃料: 万塔到梅里卡尔维亚 | 225km 225 公里 | | |
Recycling 回收 | | H2O2, natural gas, heavy fuel oil, diesel, Lignite, hard coal, market for bark chips, wet, measured as dry mass, paper and board in waste incineration plant H2O2、天然气、重质燃料油、柴油、褐煤、硬煤、垃圾焚烧厂的湿树皮屑市场、纸和纸板 | Recycled materials, emissions from refinery 回收材料、炼油厂排放物 | |
Input and Output Models of Processes (EFLB)
过程的输入和输出模型 (EFLB)
Figure 1: Input/ Outputs tab of the process editor for the process EFLB Manufacturing
图 1:EFLB Manufacturing 流程的流程编辑器的 Input/Outputs(输入/输出)选项卡
Figure 2: Input/ Outputs tab of the process editor for the process EFLB Transportation
图 2:EFLB 运输流程的流程编辑器的 Input/Outputs(输入/输出)选项卡
Figure 3: Input/ Outputs tab of the process editor for the process EFLB Recycling
图 3:EFLB 回收流程的流程编辑器的 Input/Outputs(输入/输出)选项卡
2) The Product System Chart of EFLB from OpenLCA
2) 来自 OpenLCA 的 EFLB 产品系统图
Inputs can create an impact on resource availability
输入会影响资源可用性.
Outputs create an impact on human health and ecosystem health
产出对人类健康和生态系统健康产生影响.
3) The Overview Impact of EFLB
3) EFLB 的概述影响
Excel download from the OpenLCA:
从 OpenLCA 下载 Excel:
https://hkustconnect-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/sychanby_connect_ust_hk/EUi0ewmPs-pMiFOAoCtXi08BYHP2jMyrt0P68ryQwWhmBg?e=Q5lMLI
Reference units: PM2.5 and CO2
参考单位:PM2.5 和 CO2