Reusable take-away food packaging outperforms single-use in greenhouse gas emissions

On September 5, 2023, Zero Waste Europe in collaboration with Reloop and TOMRA published a report assessing the climate impact of reusable systems versus take-away packaging. The report was produced by consulting firm Eunomia.

The authors developed models for single-use and reuse systems to quantify the climate impact for various take-away food packaging items (burger boxes, pizza boxes, bowls, sushi boxes, cups for cold drinks, and cups for warm drinks). These models include the whole life cycle of a product from the extraction of raw materials to end-of-life and waste management and estimate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) for each stage of an item’s life. The emissions are estimated as GHG emissions (gCO2) per serving.

The report finds switching to reusable containers from single use (plastic and paper) in an efficient manner leads to an overall reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The extent of this varies for different articles: cups show the highest potential for reductions, while for pizza boxes the single-use option results in less change in emissions. Since pizza boxes are by far the heaviest and bulkiest items, they are the most challenging option for reuse implementation. A decrease in weight of 20% might already make the reuse option more efficient than single use, the report states.

So it is very important and necessary to keep improve disposable Eco friendly take away paper packing. start to use Rectangle, Square Salad bowl, paper coffee cups,lunch paper box instead of the plastic ones. it will more environmental for our earth.