Corrugated board packaging and alternative reusable packaging
As part of a study carried out for DIE PAPIERINDUSTRIE e.V. and the Verband der Wellpappen-Industrie e.V. (Association of the Corrugated Cardboard Industry) in cooperation with PTS, bifa investigated the climate protection potential of packaging made of corrugated cardboard or corrugated base paper compared to new reusable plastic products emerging on the market.
Reusable systems for shipping packaging?
About 90 % of the shipping packaging used today is made of corrugated board. After a single use, they are usually recycled and returned to the waste paper cycle. Reusable systems for shipping packaging are even less established in the business-to-consumer sector today.
The avoidance of packaging waste is receiving widespread social and political attention today in the context of the climate protection debate. In this context, the use of reusable packaging is often called for, in order to substitute the ecologically supposedly less advantageous disposable packaging. For the packaging cases investigated in the study, however, it is shown that in the GHG balance there is no overall environmental advantage of reusable systems over packaging made of corrugated cardboard. Both the use of corrugated cardboard and the use of reusable systems have their justification. An evaluation must therefore be differentiated and always be based on a specific packaging case.
For packaging made of corrugated cardboard, in addition to the most resource-saving, energy-efficient production possible, the packaging weight is a central factor.
For corrugated cardboard packaging, the packaging weight is a key factor influencing the life cycle assessment.