Environmental impacts of packaging production
Another hot button topic is the environmental impacts of plastic and aluminum production. Whether it’s mining bauxite for aluminum or fracking for oil or natural gas needed in plastic production, both processes are detrimental to the environment. And considering that more cans are being recycled than bottles and, therefore, less virgin production is necessary, the production of one single aluminum can emits about twice as much carbon into the atmosphere as each plastic bottle.
Aluminum is very energy-intensive to produce and has a higher carbon footprint, responsible for 11.09 tons of CO2 emissions per ton of cans, while plastic bottles account for only 2.2 tons of greenhouse gases, according to a 2016 study by the EPA.
Cans have a higher recycled content, averaging 73 percent, compared with 6.2 percent in PET bottles, so it is hard to quantify and compare the total amount of carbon emissions for the two recycled products. Making beverage containers out of recycled products is clearly the most cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable solution for aluminum and plastic.
Producing cans out of recycled content saves 90 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, while each unit of recycled PET that replaces virgin results in 75 percent lower total energy demand and a 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, according to NAPCOR.
Aluminum and plastic packaging have the potential to be more economical and more sustainable if companies choose to devote time and resources to making that happen. By replacing packaging composed of less widely recycled plastics, such as Nos. 3-7s, with highly recyclable aluminum, as well as incorporating a higher percentage of recycled content in PET plastic products, companies can further progress toward a greener world.