Depending on the information required, LCAs for packaging can either be product LCAs or waste LCAs (please also refer to Waste Management/Packaging ). During the past years in the on-going debate about compulsory deposit on beverage containers in Germany, the manufacturers of packaging were keen on determining whether a type of packaging is considered »ecologically beneficial«, thus qualifying as exempt from mandatory deposit. The product LCA is quite an appropriate instrument for finding an answer to this question. A product LCA includes an examination of various packaging systems, taking a closer look at the production of the packaging, its distribution and service life as well its disposal at the end of its life cycle. On contrast, the method of a waste LCA is used when the question is posed from the standpoint of the more environmentally friendly disposal route of the packaging in the sense of the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act. The various disposal options for the packaging systems can then be compared without taking the past life of packaging (manufacture, service life) into consideration.
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