LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF GLASS MANUFACTURING IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

The production of glass packaging requires a lot of energy and resources, and as the world's population rises, particularly in emerging nations, so does the demand for glass packaging. Although developing nations are also suffering from the effects of climate change, there is relatively little study on environmental impact assessment and analysis, notably the environmental impacts brought on by the activities related to glass manufacturing. This work conducted a thorough life cycle assessment (LCA) for the production of glass packaging in Pakistan in order to close this research gap of quantification of the environmental impacts of glass packaging production. The LCA was carried out for three distinct types of glass packaging solutions (amber, flint, and green), considering 1-ton of glass as the functional unit. The creation of several scenarios allowed for the analysis of the effects and the generation of ideas for ways to lessen the negative effects of glass manufacture on the environment. The study's methodology used a cradle-to-gate approach. From the perspective of the life cycle inventory, the main data were gathered from a renowned glass industry situated in one of Pakistan's designated industrial zones, and the secondary data were obtained from the Ecoinvent database. Environmental impacts were measured at midpoint and endpoint levels utilizing the ReCiPe 2016 approach and SimaPro V 9.2 as the software tool. Results indicated that the extraction and processing of raw material had worse impacts on the environment. At plant level the consumption of natural gas for the melting purposes and electricity consumed from national grid had highest impacts on the environment. The comparison of three packaging solutions indicated that the production of green glass was more harmful to the environment, followed by the production of amber glass and flint glass came out to be more environmentally friendly among the three packaging solutions. The alternative scenarios were generated by changing the energy-mix and the cullet ratios and the results were compared with the baseline scenarios for different midpoint and endpoint impact categories. The alternative scenarios for the energy mix were also compared for different kinds of emissions to air especially the greenhouse gas emissions. The report also identified a number of significant implications. This study may serve as a guide for future research on the environmental impact of the glass packaging industry, particularly in Pakistan and other developing nations. In this sense, developing nations would work toward net-zero emissions and sustainable development goals.