An Economic Valuation on the External Cost of Alternative Milk Packaging

Clinton L. Neill and Ryan Williams

Journal of Food Distribution Research, 2015, vol. 46, issue 3, 13

Abstract: This paper investigates the degree to which glass bottled milk is an environmentally friendly alternative. A recent life cycle assessment for fluid milk packaging alternatives is utilized to quantify the environmental costs associated with each packaging type. We conduct a sensitivity analysis to identify the return and reuse rates under which the glass bottle has a lower environmental impact than the alternatives. With eight reuses and 95 percent return rate, glass bottled milk has a lower environmental cost than the alternatives. Twelve reuses and a 100 percent return rate is necessary for glass packaging to have the lowest social cost.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:jlofdr:212991

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.212991

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