Environmental life cycle assessment of single-use and reusable food takeaway containers

The rapid growth of the food delivery industry has significantly increased the consumption of takeaway containers. The present study conducted a comparative life cycle assessment of four commonly used 750 ml food containers: Single-use polypropylene (PP), single-use aluminum foil (AF), reusable PP, and reusable stainless steel (SS). This volume aligns with the most commonly used container sizes in the Indian food delivery sector. These containers are widely used for delivering popular Indian dishes like biryani, pulao, and fried rice. The assessment covers the entire life cycle, including extraction and processing of raw materials, production, use, transportation, cleaning (for reusable containers), and end-of-life recycling. The data on material inputs, energy consumption, material loss, and recycling efficiency were compiled, and GaBi software was used to quantify global warming potential (GWP). A functional unit of ?one use of the container? was adopted to ensure fair comparison, and system boundaries included dishwashing and avoided virgin material due to re-cycling. The results showed that the reusable containers must be used at least 3-5 times to surpass the impact of the single-use containers. The reusable container used only once has 3 times higher GWP. However, with 10, 30, and 100 uses, the GWP declined sharply. Most of the GWP impact stems from production, with minor contributions from transport and washing. The recycling at the end-of-life offsets up to 80-90% of production impact. The findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, industries, and consumers for promoting low-carbon and sustainable food packaging systems.