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Life Cycle Assessment Sheds New Insights Toward Effective Sustainable Management of Biodegradable Resin Blends Used in Packaging: A Case Study on PBAT
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This study used life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental footprint of producing and disposing of fossil-based PBAT blended with bio-based fillers as a biodegradable alternative to polyethylene food packaging. Composting PBAT yielded clear environmental advantages over landfilling conventional PE, effectively offsetting production emissions, though energy efficiency improvements could further reduce its impact.
Bioplastics are gaining attention as eco-friendly alternatives to conventional plastics, with Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate (PBAT) emerging as a promising biodegradable substitute for polyethylene (PE) in food packaging. Commercial PBAT is often blended with other plastics or bio-based fillers to improve mechanical properties and reduce costs, though these additives can influence its environmental footprint. This study assessed the environmental impacts of producing and disposing of fossil-based PBAT blends containing bio-based fillers through a gate-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) and a screening-level gate-to-grave end-of-life analysis using the ReCiPe 2016 method and IPCC’s 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP) in SimaPro. Producing 1 kg of PBAT blend generated 921 mPt in total environmental impact, with Human Health and Resource categories contributing similarly, and a GWP of 8.66 kg CO₂-eq, mainly from mixing and drying. End-of-life analysis revealed that composting PBAT offered clear advantages over landfilling PE, yielding –53.9 mPt impact and 10.7 kg CO₂-eq savings, ef-fectively offsetting production emissions. In contrast, landfilling PE caused 288.8 mPt impact and 2.2 kg CO₂-eq emissions. Sensitivity analysis showed that reducing electricity use by 30% could lower impacts by up to 10%, underscoring the importance of energy efficiency and renewable energy adoption for sustainable PBAT development.
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