Abstract
Increasing demand for shopping and packaging carrier bags has given rise to various issues relating to its disposal as well as to the overall environmental footprint and sustainability of the packaging materials. This study assesses the carbon footprint and life cycle environmental impacts of the production, usage, and disposal of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and two natural fibre carrier bags (jute and kenaf). Life cycle assessment study was conducted of all inputs and outputs, aggregated in the form of resources used and environmental emissions, extending from the production of raw materials to the final disposal of the product. The carbon footprint and GHG emissions of jute and kenaf carrier bags were estimated using the CO2, N2O, and CH4 emissions coefficients of inputs. Research literature from life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results was used to determine the effects of LDPE polyethylene packaging material. It was observed that the global warming potential (GWP) for the production of 1 kg of LDPE (100 micron) carrier bag (39.4 kg CO2eq) is more than 490 times higher than jute and kenaf carrier bags. In general, LDPE materials have the greatest impact on the carbon footprint and resource depletion. The LDPE material also has the highest impacts on indicators of terrestrial ecotoxicity, photochemical oxidation, acidification, and eutrophication as compared to jute and kenaf fibres. Since jute and kenaf are natural fibres, they sequester a substantial quantity of carbon during their agricultural stages. As a result, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission emissions of jute and kenaf were found to be negative. Popularising the use of jute and kenaf products as alternatives to plastic in industrialised countries would benefit the reduction of plastic waste and its negative environmental effects. Additional production of jute and kenaf fibre, which are already available in major bast fibre producing countries like India and Bangladesh, could meet the demand for fibre-based carrier bags.
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Data availability
The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are thankful to the Director of ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, West Bengal, India, for providing the necessary facilities and financial support to conduct the study.
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The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for conducting the research: ICAR-Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres, Barrackpore, Kolkata, India. No funding for publication as Open Access.
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Arvind Kumar Singh: conceptualization; investigation; methodology; mathematical analysis; validation; writing—original draft; Shamna Aboo: data curation; writing—review and editing; Tinku Goswami: formal analysis; data curation; Gouranga Kar: project administration, writing—review and editing.
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Singh, A.K., Aboo, S., Goswami, T. et al. Jute and kenaf carrier bags: an eco-friendly alternative to plastic bags in India. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 61904–61912 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26436-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26436-0