Valutazione degli impatti ambientali dell’editoria scolastica: il caso studio Zanichelli S.p.A.

Il presente lavoro mostra i risultati delle prime analisi d’impatto ambientale effettuate dal gruppo editoriale Zanichelli S.p.A. per acquisire consapevolezza in merito ai propri carichi sull’ambiente e intraprendere un percorso di riduzione degli stessi. La casa editrice ha effettuato dapprima una valutazione LCA di prodotto per valutare gli impatti associati al ciclo di vita del proprio libro scolastico rappresentativo (copia cartacea con e-book). In secondo luogo ha realizzato un’analisi di organizzazione, quantificando le proprie emissioni di gas ad effetto serra di tipologia SCOPE 1 e SCOPE 2, in accordo con le linee guida indicate nel GHG Protocol

Packaging re-use in the circular economy: an LCA evaluation for Italy

Re-use is among the most important tools to increase the lifetime of materials and products, preventing the generation of waste and reducing the need for final sinks, and this is especially true for packaging. For this reason, it is important to have an overview of the re-use of packaging items in Europe and to quantify the environmental benefits of such practice. The pluriannual research described in this paper has started with a qualitative and quantitative assessment about the practice of packaging re-use in Italy. Thirty-eight types of packaging items that are currently re-used were identified. For each of them, the constituent material, the market of use, the sector of use, the main basic characteristics (e.g., size and/or weight), the possible reconditioning process applied, and the type of service based on which is managed were defined. Then, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed for some of those packaging items that require a reconditioning process, i.e. intermediate bulk containers, steel drums for the transport of chemicals and petrochemical products, reusable plastic collapsible crates for fruit and vegetables distribution, and refillable glass bottles for the delivery of mineral water in the domestic and Horeca sector. For each typology, the life cycle perspective was used to assess the impacts of the packaging as a function of its number of uses (the so-called “rotations”) and to quantify the contribution of the main stages (production, reconditioning, distribution, and end of life) to the total impacts of the life cycle. Moreover, each assessment investigated if the analysed system based on re-use performs better than an equivalent system based on single use. These LCAs were performed mainly with primary data about the packaging system, collected through tailor-made questionnaires and field surveys at some facilities located in Northern Italy. The adopted methodology and the main results are reported in the paper

EDITORIA SCOLASTICA E IMPATTI AMBIENTALI: ANALISI DEL CASO ZANICHELLI TRAMITE LA METODOLOGIA LCA

L’industria dell’editoria scolastica, tradizionalmente basata su copie cartacee, è da tempo indirizzata verso la progressiva digitalizzazione del prodotto. Questo articolo fornisce una valutazione quantitativa degli impatti ambientali associati alla filiera produttiva, distributiva e d’uso del libro scolastico in modalità mista di tipo b commercializzato dal gruppo editoriale Zanichelli. Tale libro si compone di un volume cartaceo di 400 pagine e di un e-book multimediale. Lo studio, effettuato secondo la metodologia di valutazione del ciclo di vita (Life Cycle Assessment, LCA) è stato svolto con l’obiettivo di effettuare una prima valutazione dei carichi ambientali del prodotto in esame, in modo da individuare i margini di miglioramento e quindi indirizzare le strategie di sostenibilità ambientale della casa editrice. Particolare attenzione è stata posta sul prodotto digitale, sia perché in espansione, sia perché i carichi ambientali ad esso associati risultano influenzati dalle modalità d’uso dell’utente, differenziandosi fortemente in questo dal libro cartaceo. L’analisi ha incluso tutte le fasi coinvolte nella filiera editoriale, descritta prevalentemente con dati primari del gruppo Zanichelli per l’anno 2019 e ha indagato 15 categorie di impatto ambientale proposte nel metodo di caratterizzazione Environmental Footprint 3.0 raccomandato dalla Commissione Europea. Gli impatti ambientali del libro misto, nello scenario d’uso attuale della componente digitale (visione online/scaricamento su dispositivo personale di un ottavo dell’e-book e sua consultazione per il 5% del tempo di apprendimento), sono principalmente associati al ciclo di vita del libro cartaceo, soprattutto alla produzione di carta vergine per la sua realizzazione. Attualmente le potenzialità dell’e-book sono poco sfruttate e di conseguenza il suo carico ambientale è ridotto. Tuttavia, se l’e-book venisse utilizzato al massimo delle sue potenzialità (visione online/scaricamento di tutto l’e-book e sua consultazione per il 100% del tempo dedicato all’apprendimento della materia), gli impatti complessivi del libro misto di tipo b subirebbero un aumento importante per 15 delle 16 categorie di impatto analizzate, oscillante tra il +17% e il +229% (ad esempio, +59% per le categorie cambiamento climatico e consumo di risorse energetiche non rinnovabili).The Italian publishing houses are traditionally based on printed books. However, in the last years, another tool for conveying content and information has been developed with the introduction of digital books (e-books). E-books have the advantage of offering a wide range of digital content and of avoiding carrying a weight, but the “digital cost” is not burden-free in terms of environmental impacts. As of now, the most widespread proposal of the Italian publishing houses to schools is a mixed package (called “type b ministerial book”), including a printed and an e-book. This work has assessed the potential environmental impacts related to the type b ministerial book as commercialised by the Italian company Zanichelli. The average printed book weights 860 grams and it is made of 400 pages, while the e-book is composed of the same pages of the printed book in digital format plus a variety of videos and interactive exercises. The analysis was performed through the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology with the main objective to identify the stages that give rise to the main environmental burdens along the supply chain. Results of the analysis have been used to recommend to the company some improvements to the environmental performance of its product. A particular focus has been dedicated to the e-book life cycle, whose environmental impacts are expected to be highly dependent on usage patterns. In fact, the user might transfer a variable amount of digital information from the data center (i.e. downloading a certain amount of Gigabyte) during a scholastic year and the time spent on the e-book reading device can range from a few minutes to many hours per year. Primary data related to the Zanichelli company for the year 2019 were collected as far as possible, in order to model the system of the analysed product, otherwise for the background data the ecoinvent database, version 3.7.1 was used. Fifteen midpoint impact indicators of the Environmental Footprint method (version 3.0), recommended by the European Commission, were calculated. In accordance with the adopted assumptions for the current situation, most of the impacts of the mixed book are associated to the life cycle of the printed book, with a contribution to the total burden higher than 80% in all the analysed impact categories. This result is mainly due to the production of the coated, wood-free, virgin paper in an amount of 1 kilogram per one printed book. On the other hand, the impacts associated to the life cycle of the e-book are minor (always lower than 15% of the total impact), since the current usage is very low. In fact, an average user of the e-book accesses only one eighth of the available digital material per year and the overall time spent reading the downloaded material is only 5% of the total time dedicated to learn the subject. However, a sensitivity analysis on the usage patterns of the e-book has been performed and the outcome highlights an important influence of these parameters on the results. In case the e-book is used to a greater extent (i.e. downloading of the full digital content and learning of the subject entirely done on the e-book), the impacts of the mixed book would significantly increase, between + 17% and + 229% depending on the impact category. Most of the impacts of the e-book resulted associated to the electricity consumption used for both the transfer of the digital material from the data center to the final user and the use of an electronic reader. Moreover, in some impact categories, also the production of the electronic device resulted in a significant environmental burden, although less of 1% of its production impacts have been allocated to the analysed function of learning. In the last part of the study, it was analysed how the impacts of school publishing would change if the market moved from the current mixed package (paper book plus the e-book with a minimal use) to the product only in the digital version (called ministerial book c in the Italian context). The use of the book type c would reduce the impacts in 12 out of 15 impact categories, while in two impact categories (freshwater eutrophication and depletion of minerals and metals) an evident increment of the environmental burden would be shown

Life cycle assessment of consumption choices: a comparison between disposable and rechargeable household batteries

Purpose: The demand for household batteries is considerable in the European context with just over five billion placed on the market every year. Although disposable batteries account for the largest market share in Europe, the use of rechargeable batteries is promoted as a less waste generating and a more environmentally friendly practice. A comparative life cycle assessment was therefore carried out to verify this assertion. Methods: The study compared, with a life cycle perspective, the use of disposable alkaline batteries to that of rechargeable NiMH batteries, considering the AA and AAA sizes. The comparison focused on the factors that were expected to have an higher influence on the results: consumer choices during the purchase for disposable devices (typology of battery pack, selected brand, which affects the production country, and mode of transport of batteries for the purchasing round trip) and during the use phase for rechargeable batteries (number of charge cycles and source of the electricity used for the recharge). The waste generation indicator, 13 midpoint impact indicators on the environment and the human health, and the Cumulative energy demand indicator were calculated in support of the assessment. Results and discussion: For waste generation, the choice of NiMH rechargeable batteries is highly convenient also with a reduced number of uses. On the contrary, for the environmental indicators and the energy consumption, the picture is less straightforward, being heavily dependent on the number of charge cycles. For the impact categories Acidification, Human toxicity (cancer effects), and Particulate matter, an “inefficient” use of the rechargeable devices (for only 20 charge cycles or less) could cause higher impacts than the employment of disposable batteries. Moreover, for the Ozone depletion, NiMH batteries are hardly environmentally better than alkaline batteries even with 150 recharges. Conclusions and recommendations: The number of uses of rechargeable batteries plays a key role on their environmental and energy performances. When compared to disposable batteries, a minimum number of 50 charge cycles permits a robust reduction of the potential impacts for all the analyzed indicators excluding the Ozone depletion. Hence, the use of rechargeable batteries should be mostly encouraged for high consumption devices such as cameras, torches, and electronic toys

Packaging waste prevention in the distribution of fruit and vegetables: An assessment based on the life cycle perspective

In recent years, alternative food supply chains based on short distance production and delivery have been promoted as being more environmentally friendly than those applied by the traditional retailing system. An example is the supply of seasonal and possibly locally grown fruit and vegetables directly to customers inside a returnable crate (the so-called ‘box scheme’). In addition to other claimed environmental and economic advantages, the box scheme is often listed among the packaging waste prevention measures. To check whether such a claim is soundly based, a life cycle assessment was carried out to verify the real environmental effectiveness of the box scheme in comparison to the Italian traditional distribution. The study focused on two reference products, carrots and apples, which are available in the crate all year round. An experience of a box scheme carried out in Italy was compared with some traditional scenarios where the product is distributed loose or packaged at the large-scale retail trade. The packaging waste generation, 13 impact indicators on environment and human health and energy consumptions were calculated. Results show that the analysed experience of the box scheme, as currently managed, cannot be considered a packaging waste prevention measure when compared with the traditional distribution of fruit and vegetables. The weaknesses of the alternative system were identified and some recommendations were given to improve its environmental performance

sj-docx-1-wmr-10.1177_0734242X241241606 – Supplemental material for How does plastic compare with alternative materials in the packaging sector? A systematic review of LCA studies

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-wmr-10.1177_0734242X241241606 for How does plastic compare with alternative materials in the packaging sector? A systematic review of LCA studies by Giovanni Dolci, Stefano Puricelli, Giuseppe Cecere, Camilla Tua, Floriana Fava, Lucia Rigamonti and Mario Grosso in Waste Management & Research</p