According to Statista, Germans consumed 9.2 kilograms of chocolate per capita in 2019. That’s a considerable amount. In an EU comparison, this puts Germans in second place.
The German Nature Conservation Union (NABU) was interested in determining which type of packaging is the most environmentally friendly for this treat, so it commissioned the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu) in Heidelberg to analyze the environmental impact of various packaging alternatives.
Chocolate packaging evaluated based on three problem areas
The following problem areas were highlighted: climate change caused by greenhouse gases, the consumption of non-renewable resources, and pollutant emissions into the air and water.
For chocolate bars, the study compared packaging made of plastic film, a combination of paper and aluminum foil, and a combination of aluminum foil and cardboard.
Conclusion: Plastic film packaging is clearly the most environmentally friendly option
The conclusion was clear: The plastic wrap emerged as the clear winner of the comparison. The reasons: The packaging is lightweight, and polyethylene is highly recyclable.
Furthermore, manufacturing plastic wrap is less energy- and resource-intensive than producing aluminum foil.Advances in recyclable, reusable plastic films for food packaging are also enabling increasingly thinner films and thus more resource-efficient packaging options.
Paper packaging combined with aluminum foil came in second place.
The least sustainable—and thus in last place—was the packaging combination of cardboard and aluminum foil. The energy- and resource-intensive production of aluminum foil, combined with the high transportation emissions caused by the heavy cardboard, relegated the cardboard + aluminum foil packaging to last place. You can find more informationhere.
Buying unpackaged chocolate would also be desirable, but this is only feasible in a few cases. Therefore, according to the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu), packaging chocolate in plastic that re-enters the recycling cycle—and from which new products can be created as part of the circular economy—is the best alternative.
We can only confirm and emphasize this. With our wide range of recyclable polyolefin fine-shrink films (PO film) , BOPPfilms e (polypropylene) and organic and eco-friendly films , our film packaging offers the ideal conditions for sustainable, protective, and sales-promoting retail packaging.
With our reduced-thickness, highly optimized, and recyclable films , you not only save time—and therefore money—thanks to the reduced material requirements, but you also help protect the environment, as our films are reusable and recyclable within the recycling loop.
Would you like more information about our packaging films? Write to us or give us a call: Tel. +49 (0)7123 97 99 0.
