Various packages

Question

Greetings.

I am using ecoinvent 3.11 and Im trying to find some processes that describe the production of various packages. These are:

1. Aluminium foil packaging that is used to contain pharceutical pills
2. Plastic tube that is used to contain pharmaceutical cremes.

Thank you for your time!

Answer 1

Hi Giannis,

for both cases I think it is a bit too specific for ecoinvent. I would refer you to literature, e.g. The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment (2024) 29:416–432. There are a lot of details, e.g. the foil is not neat aluminium but coated aluminium. Detailed inventories are found in the publication. For the tube, it is better to check what material it is made of. Can be PP or HDPE. Often, they are laminated making it more complex.
Against current beliefs, ecoinvent does not have all products/processes handily available. You have to dig a bit in the literature to find the exact materials/processes.

Hope this helps

Comments

Thank you Jonas. I checked the Journal you mentioned and I still find the problem that I find in most of this type of Journals.

Most of them if not all of them, do not assess all of the impacts that are usually used by the International EPD program, but only a few.

The good thing about ecoinvent and OpenLca is that, even if you can't find the exact dataset you are looking for, you can use the impact assessment you prefer.