Brasil Pack Trends 2020

BrasilPackTrends2020 194 sustainabi l ity & ethics available equipment. A good example is the technology for holographic printing called HoloBrite TM ( FIGURE 7.20 ), which prints directly on the cardboard, providing a bright appearance without the need for a polyester or metal lamination film. This process allows the packaging is recycled in equipment normally used in the recycling of waste paper and cardboard, without the generation of waste plastic. This technology has been adopted by industries Paperworks in the printing of the Aquafresh toothpaste cartridge (MOHAN, 2012). FIGURE 7.20 Example of Design for Recyclability Source: Press release Environmental issues are always of wide character and difficult to interpret. Life cycle assessment can be considered one of the broader environmental methodologies, since it can link, through its functional unit, parameters usually incomparable, of various types, such as the use of energy and water, eutrophication and acidification processes, land use, consumption of natural resources, etc. Due to this wide approach, able to show numerous and distinct aspects of the real environment, the methodology has spread around the world and has been gaining importance in many sectors. One of its requirements, for example, is that various environmental aspects must be included in the analysis, so it is not allowed to reference the methodology in studies that do not include several categories of environmental impact at the same time. Given the complex nature of these issues and the need to take urgent action to reduce the environmental impacts of human activities, some more simplified derivations of traditional LCA studies have been applied to crucial questions such carbon and water footprints . These new metrics, derived from LCA studies, take advantage of the “supply chain” approach, but focus only on some particular aspects, such as the emission of greenhouse gases, measured by the carbon footprint. Considering the importance of the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions, discussed in section 7.2.1, Carbon footprint and water footprint is of great value monitoring and mitigation of the same. The carbon footprint is the quantification of the greenhouse gases of a product or service emitted during its life cycle, from the extraction of raw materials, processing, distribution and use up to the final disposal. This term is expressed in units of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2 equiv.). In the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, the Carbonfootprint impact appears as the Global Warming Potential , one of the environmental impact categories usually analyzed. The word Carbonfootprint as well as the method for its quantification, is described in the document PAS 2050 (BRITISH STANDARD INSTITUTION, 2011). Some products are already Carbonfootprint appeal on their packages, like the Bloomsberry & CO’s chocolate (FIGURE 7.21), which informs how consumers can reduce the carbon footprint and the effects of climate change. The water footprint is an indicator that measures the direct and indirect consumptions of water and its pollution along the products life cycle. Considering the low availability of potable water in countries and regions with high population density and the current incapacity for treatment of all the generated effluents, the reduction of the water footprint must be between the priority environmental actions. The methodology for its quantification, however, is under consolidation phase (MENDIONDO, 2011).