Environmental Analysis of the Impact of Changing Shrink Film in the Mass Bottle Packaging Process

The aim of this study was to assess the environmental impact of using recycled polyethylene film for shrink-wrapping bottles. For this aim, film properties were tested and the harmfulness of the packaging process was simulated for film made from virgin and recycled material. For the recycled film, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied sciences 2024-08, Vol.14 (15), p.6641
Main Authors: Walichnowska, Patrycja, Mazurkiewicz, Adam, Martínez Valle, José Miguel, Polishchuk, Oleh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Calorimetry
ecological process assessment
Energy
Energy conservation
Environmental impact
Germany
Greenhouse gases
High density polyethylenes
impact on environment
LCA
Low density polyethylenes
Mechanical properties
plastic recycling
Plastics
Poland
Polyethylene films
Polyethylene terephthalate
Raw materials
recycled film
Recycling
waste management
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Summary:The aim of this study was to assess the environmental impact of using recycled polyethylene film for shrink-wrapping bottles. For this aim, film properties were tested and the harmfulness of the packaging process was simulated for film made from virgin and recycled material. For the recycled film, the results showed an increase of 14.7% in impact resistance, a change from −21.6 to +94.3% in tear resistance, and a decrease of up to 45.4% in tensile strength in dependence on the test direction. Using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), the changes in the properties of the two types of film with temperature changes were evaluated. DSC analysis showed that recycled film has a 1.94 °C lower glass transition temperature and a 1.85 °C lower melting point in comparison to polyethylene film. This can reduce the temperature of the packaging process and lead to energy savings. A study conducted with SimaPro 9.3 software showed that a change in films made of virgin raw material to recycled films reduces the negative impact on the environment from 68.5 to 11.5%. The change also reduces resource consumption by about 80 percent. The results of conducted tests and simulations showed that using recycled film for bottle packaging allows reducing the negative environmental impact of examined process, especially in terms of resource consumption and energy savings.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app14156641