Plastic packaging substitution in industry: variability of LCA due to manufacturing countries

The raising environmental concerns related to fossil fuel-based plastic packaging resulted in policy efforts for reducing their use and introducing bio-based materials. However, the availability of bio-based material suppliers may be currently limited. At the industrial level, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can provide decision support to companies willing to substitute fossil fuel-based with bio-based plastic packaging. In this context, a detailed modelling of the plastic supply chain can markedly alter the LCA results and the consequent interpretation. The present work is based on preliminary results from the Italian project “Plastic New Deal”, which aims to support small enterprises on substituting fossil fuel-based plastic with other materials. The goal of this study is to investigate the variability of LCA results related to the substitution of fossil fuel-based low-density polyethylene (LDPE) with bio-based LDPE (bio-LDPE) and polylactic acid (PLA), used as film for packaging. A total of 11 scenarios was built, modelling the country of plastic manufacturing and type of feedstock. LCA results of bio-based plastics by country vary up to +165% and -95% with respect to the average, which is much higher than the one of fossil fuel-based LDPE across all the impact categories considered in the study. This is due to the additional variability in the cultivation and conversion processes, originated from different types of feedstocks. Uncertainties on End-of-Life (EoL) treatment processes of plastic packaging and on accounting for life cycle biogenic carbon dioxide exchanges might further alter the LCA results for the climate change total category. The present paper attempts to highlight potential issues associated to a generic LCA which does not sufficiently account for the company context, empowering the accuracy of LCA as decision support tool and opening a discussion on how to improve the reliability of practical LCA recommendations.