Impactos ambientais da produção e descarte de sacolas de diferentes materiais
Data
2019-11-29
Tipo
Trabalho de conclusão de curso
Título da Revista
ISSN da Revista
Título de Volume
Resumo
O aumento do acesso à informação pela sociedade promoveu uma disseminação de conhecimento geral que fez com que a população notasse mais as mudanças climáticas e ficasse mais sensível às informações sobre impactos ambientais. Por outro lado, houve um aumento nas ações que priorizam a comodidade do indivíduo, gerando um grande consumo e descarte de produtos e itens não duráveis como sacolas e outras embalagens, que muitas vezes são descartadas de forma incorreta. Há um crescente interesse entre os produtores em diminuir a pegada ecológica na produção das sacolas descartáveis de papel e de plástico, com o objetivo de serem empresas cada vez mais sustentáveis e ainda lucrativas. A falta de informação relativa aos reais impactos ambientais da produção e descarte de sacolas, no entanto, faz com que consumidores e produtores não privilegiem necessariamente as soluções com menor impacto ambiental. Neste trabalho foi estudado os impactos ambientais causados por diferentes tipos de sacolas descartáveis e reutilizáveis, a partir de um levantamento e discussão de trabalhos relacionados à análise de ciclo de vida (ACV) disponíveis na literatura. O estudo mostra que as sacolas de papel possuem de forma geral o pior desempenho ambiental na maioria dos impactos apresentados quando comparados com sacolas de plástico convencional, sacolas de biopolímeros, sacolas com aditivo oxi-biodegradante, polietileno (LDPE) verde e diversas sacolas reutilizáveis. A alternativa considerada mais sustentável é a adoção de sacolas reutilizáveis, com exceção as de algodão que consomem grande quantidade de energia. Uma medida complementar para o consumidor é reutilização secundária de sacolas descartáveis, pois quanto mais uma sacola for reutilizada, menor o consumo de recursos, emissões de poluentes e consequentemente menor impacto ambiental.
Increased access to information by society has made the population more aware of climate change and more sensitive to information on environmental impacts. On the other hand, there was an increase in actions that prioritize the convenience of the individual, generating a large consumption and disposal of products and non-durable items such as bags and other packaging, which usually are disposed of incorrectly. There is a growing interest among producers in reducing the ecological footprint for the production of disposable paper and plastic bags with the aim of becoming increasingly sustainable and still profitable. The lack of information regarding the actual environmental impacts of the production and disposal of bags, however, means that both consumers and producers do not necessarily favor the ones with the least environmental impact. In this project the environmental impacts caused by different types of disposable and reusable bags were assessed, based on data available in the literature related to life cycle assessment (LCA). This study shows that paper bags have the worst environmental performance in most of the impact categories evaluated, when compared to conventional plastic bags, biopolymer bags, oxo-biodegradable bag, LDPE “bag for life” and several reusable bags. The most sustainable alternative is the adoption of reusable bags, except for the cotton bags because of their energy consumption. A complementary measure for the consumers is the secondary reuse of disposable bags, because the more times a bag is reused, resource consumption, emissions and environmental impacts of its life cycle are lower.
Increased access to information by society has made the population more aware of climate change and more sensitive to information on environmental impacts. On the other hand, there was an increase in actions that prioritize the convenience of the individual, generating a large consumption and disposal of products and non-durable items such as bags and other packaging, which usually are disposed of incorrectly. There is a growing interest among producers in reducing the ecological footprint for the production of disposable paper and plastic bags with the aim of becoming increasingly sustainable and still profitable. The lack of information regarding the actual environmental impacts of the production and disposal of bags, however, means that both consumers and producers do not necessarily favor the ones with the least environmental impact. In this project the environmental impacts caused by different types of disposable and reusable bags were assessed, based on data available in the literature related to life cycle assessment (LCA). This study shows that paper bags have the worst environmental performance in most of the impact categories evaluated, when compared to conventional plastic bags, biopolymer bags, oxo-biodegradable bag, LDPE “bag for life” and several reusable bags. The most sustainable alternative is the adoption of reusable bags, except for the cotton bags because of their energy consumption. A complementary measure for the consumers is the secondary reuse of disposable bags, because the more times a bag is reused, resource consumption, emissions and environmental impacts of its life cycle are lower.