Plastic Versus Bioplastic as Packaging for Sanitary Products: The Environmental Impacts Comparison

Plastic or bioplastic? Which is the least impactful flexible packaging solution for the environment? In literature, few works try to answer this question, and most of them are focused on food packaging applications, comparing only polylactic acid (PLA) with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or other virgin plastics. Besides these lacks in the literature, this work aims at contributing to the scientific knowledge, helping in the meanwhile packaging companies to choose the best solution also for hygienic and sanitary applications as far as the environmental impact is concerned. The study is focused on the life cycle assessment of four solutions made of maize starch, PLA and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and a recycled LDPE (R-LDPE). The functional unit was a flexible packaging containing 10 sanitary towels. Primary data were retrieved thanks to an Italian company, whereas secondary data were extracted from the Ecoinvent 3.7 database. The SimaPro 9.4 software has been used to calculate the global warming, water consumption, acidification and abiotic depletion of elements and fossil fuels of each packaging solution. The results show that the raw materials and packaging production are the most impactful phases during the life cycle of plastics and bioplastics packaging, if compared to the distribution phase, the auxiliary materials involved and the final disposal. Great benefits could be gained using recycled plastics, which allow to reduce the extraction of virgin materials and overall appear as the best solution from an environmental point of view to package also sanitary products. The study environmentally assesses and compare two bio-based and two plastic alternatives for sanitary pads. The life cycle assessment approach has been followed, starting from primary data retrieved by an Italian company. The results obtained with the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) 2018 methodology reveal that recycled plastic is the best option according to global warming, acidification, eutrophication, ozone layer and abiotic depletion of elements and fossil fuels.image