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At Polivouga, sustainability drives our innovation. We are sharing the findings from the IFEU Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, which evaluates single-use and reusable transport packaging under current and future PPWR conditions.

Here’s a summary of the key conclusions:

• Single-Use Plastic Packaging Outperforms: Single-use plastic transport packaging (stretch wrap, stretch hood, shrink hood) shows lower environmental impacts compared to rigid reusable plastic boxes and flexible reuse sleeves across all seven application fields studied.
• Advantages Over Cardboard & Paper: Single-use plastic packaging consistently outperforms rigid cardboard and flexible paper-based single-use alternatives in most environmental impact categories.
• PCR Content Boosts Sustainability: Incorporating Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) material further reduces environmental impact, making single-use plastic packaging with high PCR content the most sustainable option. However, scaling PCR use requires further research to ensure benefits persist.
• Material Efficiency Matters: Single-use plastic packaging requires less material and offers better transport efficiency, avoiding under-utilization seen in rigid reuse systems, especially for less dense goods.
• Reuse Systems’ Limitations: While reuse sleeves show some promise, they lack adaptability and require manual handling, which wasn’t fully accounted for in the LCA. Rigid reuse systems underperform due to inefficiencies in transport adaptability.

Call to Action: These robust, peer-reviewed findings highlight the need for balanced policymaking. We urge industry partners and policymakers to collaborate on sustainable PCR implementation and revisit PPWR goals by 2030 to reflect real-world objective data and facts. 

Let’s work together for a greener future! 

Read the full study for a deeper dive into these insights:

/zArchives/Library/Content/20250627_ifeu_EUPC_LCA_transport_packaging_final-report_incl_CR.pdf

#Sustainability #Packaging #Innovation #PPWR #Polivouga