A recent article on Environmental Leader argues the PET is environmentally superior to glass or aluminum as a food/beverage packaging material. Our recent work confirms that PET has significantly lower life-cycle GHG emissions compared to glass or virgin aluminum. For a typical 12 oz container, here are some sample GHG emissions figures based on materials and fabrication (assuming container weights of 365 g for glass, 54 g for PET, 40 g for aluminum):
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Glass (virgin): 256 g of CO2-e
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Glass (80% recycled content): 217 g of CO2-eq
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PET (virgin): 139 g of CO2-eq
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Aluminum (virgin): 521 g of CO2-eq
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Aluminum (100% recycled content): 37 g of CO2-eq
So, unless the aluminum includes mostly recycled content, PET would be the best choice from a carbon footprint perspective. When transportation is factored in, glass becomes even less attractive because of its weight. Both aluminum and glass production require very high temperatures and are therefore very energy intensive.
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