Packaging Stretch film alternatives in a circular economy perspective: Comparison of three scenarios with a Life Cycle Assessment approach

The plastic litter issues make urgent the implementation of circular economy practices in the packaging sector. To this purpose, the present study environmentally analyses, through a Life Cycle Assessment, three plastic film alternatives used in Europe for pallets wrapping. Considering the impact categories of the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) 2018 methodology, a traditional linear low-density polyethylene LLDPE film was compared not only to a thinner film with 60% post-consumer recycled LLDPE but also to a thinner high pre-stretch film. The ISO 14040 and 14044 as well as the Packaging Product Category Rule were followed in the study. Primary data of the films life cycle were collected thanks to the collaboration of a plastic film producer, while secondary data were modelled through the Ecoinvent database, available in the SimaPro software used in the study. The results highlight that the best option to reduce the environmental impact of these films is related to the reduction of plastic use thanks to lower thickness and higher stretching. Copyright (C) 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)