Abstract
ood packaging systems are designed to perform series of functions mainly aimed at containing and protecting
foods during their shelf-lives. However, to perform those functions a package causes environmental impacts
that affect food supply chains and that come from its life-cycle phases. Therefore, package design should be
done based upon not only the issues of cost, food shelf-life and safety, as well as practicality, but also of environ-
mental sustainability. For this purpose, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can be applied in the packaging
fi
eld with the
aim of highlighting environmental hotspots and improvement potentials, thus enabling more eco-friendly prod-
ucts. In this context, an LCA of foamy polystyrene (PS) trays used for fresh meat packaging was performed here.
The study highlighted that the highest environmental impacts come from PS-granule production and electricity
consumption. In this regard, the authors underscored that there are no margins for improvement in the produc-
tion of the granules and in the transport of the material inputs involved as well as of the trays to users. On the
contrary, changing the energy source into a renewable one (by installing, for instance, a wind power plant)
would enable a 14% damage reduction. In this way, the authors documented that alternative ways can be
found for global environmental improvement of the system analysed and so for enhanced environmental
sustainability of food packaging systems.