Social and environmental impacts of packaging (LCA and assessment of packaging functions)

This paper reviews the functions of packaging materials and the social ann environmental impacts that packaging has, reflecting our changing lifestyle . The functions of some packaging materials, such as prevention of food con tamination protection against spoilage, preservation of contents ann commun ications linking the food manufacturer to the customer, are many and varied in extent ann complexity. The current life cycle assessment (LCA) can not easily be applied to the assessment of environmental impacts of packaging m aterials, taking packaging functions into consideration, but attempts at su ch application are being made experimentally. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.