Aluminum- An ultimate option for beverage packing
The beverage industry is one of the major food processing industries, and there is a growing interest in the food and beverage industries due to increasing consumer demand around the world. Consequently, they produce a huge amount of waste- recyclable & non-recyclable. Beverage packaging is the pivot point to build a sustainable & circular economic model for this industry.
Currently, PET plastic bottles are being used for beverage packaging in large quantities. The primary reason behind the use of plastic is the low prices. Undoubtedly, this poses a threat to health and the environment.
Challenges posed by using PET plastics
According to a report by Business Standard, there are now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes their way into our oceans. Ingestion of plastics by marine animals and then humans consuming them make the microplastics enter our food chain, damaging our health.
70 million metric tons of plastic burned worldwide each year, according to The Business Standard.
Why?
- Lesser recycling: Of the 8.3 billion metric tons produced, 6.3 billion metric tons have become plastic waste.
- Segregation Problem: Plastic used in bottles is categorized into seven different categories-PETE, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS, and others, making it difficult to segregate and recycle.
- Limited cycles of recycling: The same piece of plastic can only be recycled about 2–3 times before its quality decreases to the point where it can no longer be used apart from minimal collection and recycling of plastic bottles in most countries in the present scenario.
However, another alternative, glass can be recycled with significantly high efficiency but being heavy and fragile, it barely complies with circular economic model.
- Toxic in nature: Heating plastics in the microwave may cause chemicals to leach into foods, and the exposure of microplastics to young people is a major health concern.
- Pollution: There are now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tons. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes their way into our oceans. A new report reveals 70 million metric tons of plastic burned worldwide each year. Ingestion of plastics by marine animals and then humans consuming them make the microplastics enter our food chain and substantially damage our health.
- High carbon footprint:
- Economic impact: Advanced recycling turns plastic polymers back into their original molecules so they can be processed and used again and again. However, the technology being advanced & expensive doesn't align with the circular economy.
The circular economic model of plastics isn’t working now, and the system requires something like Aluminum, with such a high index of recycling and reusability. Glass, on the other hand, is heavy and fragile that adds to the shipping costs & transportation and subsequently the consumers.
Other alternatives:
Glass and Aluminum can be good alternatives to PET bottles because both Glass and Aluminum are 100% recyclable and recycled endlessly without loss in quality or purity. The recycling procedure can be fitted to both raw and waste materials.
Aluminum - A Perfect sustainable alternate!
The Aluminum Association states that:
- Aluminum is infinitely recyclable and highly durable;
- Nearly 75 % of all aluminum ever produced is still used today.
- It’s 100 % recyclable and retains its properties indefinitely.
- It’s one of the only materials in the consumer disposal stream that pays more than the cost of its collection.
Most food-grade plastics, in contrast, are “downcycled,” their quality degrading each time they’re rehashed while aluminum retains its quality each time. Aluminum recycling is both economically and environmentally effective, as recycled aluminum requires only 5% of the energy used to make primary aluminum and can have the same properties as the parent metal.
How aluminum ticks all the boxes?
- Relatively less toxic: Aluminum foil reacts only to highly concentrated acids and basic substances and is otherwise strongly corrosive resistant. It is sterile and, therefore, hygienic, tasteless, and odorless; highly dimensionally stable even in the soft state and does not absorb liquids.
- Fewer carbon emissions: Emissions associated with transporting and cooling aluminum cans are 7-21 % lower than plastic bottles and 35-49 % lower than glass bottles, depending on the size of the comparative bottles and the types of refrigerators in which beverage is cooled before consumption.
The carbon footprint of aluminum can be significant in the initial phases, but it is bound to decrease after recycling. So the carbon footprint decreases with the increase in the number of recycling processes.
- Lighter than glass: Size and weight may be the most notable advantage of cans in this market. It’s 84g of aluminum vs. 1.2 kg of glass and also smaller in physical size.
- Works on the same recycling model as glass: Recycling 1 tonne of Aluminium saves 9 tonnes of CO2 emission, and being of the same nature as glass from a recycling perspective, it can be fitted to both raw and waste materials.
The drawback of using aluminum is that it’s extracted through its ore bauxite, which is found in mines, and there are multiple chemical and mining processes involved in it. They need to be more sustainable to reduce the impact of aluminum mining on the environment, making aluminum an even more sustainable packaging material. This can be done by actively investing in the R&D of green mining of aluminum.
Conclusion
Since it is easier to collect and recycle aluminum and can be reused on a huge scale, consequently, it prevents us from usage of more raw materials or natural resources. Hence we can conclusively state that aluminum is a circular economy enabler for a clean and green future and certainly better than plastics & glass beverage packaging material that are being widely used.
~Nitin
Research Credits: Ashutosh Kumar, Praharsh Agrawal, Devesh Gupta
