Comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Packaging Materials for Tomato-Based Products to Pave the Way for Increasing Tomato Processing Industry Sustainability

Elham Eslami, Serena Carpentieri, Gianpiero Pataro and Giovanna Ferrari ()
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Elham Eslami: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
Serena Carpentieri: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
Gianpiero Pataro: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy
Giovanna Ferrari: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, 84084 Fisciano, SA, Italy

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: Background: The tomato processing industry is a vital sector, with tomatoes being the primary vegetable for industrial transformation. To individuate potential actions to make the tomato processing industry more sustainable, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted for an Italian tomato processing company located in southern Italy. Methods: Foreground data were collected from the company, while background data were sourced from the Ecoinvent database. The assessment employed the CML-IA baseline (V3.5) method for midpoints and IMPACT 2002+ for endpoints. Results: The research revealed that a can of peeled tomatoes (400 g) and a bottle of tomato puree (500 g) were responsible for global warming potential (GWP) of 0.666 kg CO 2 eq and 0.479 kg CO 2 eq, respectively. The packaging phase is the primary contributor to adverse environmental effects and has been considered as the primary focus for improvement. The end-of-life (EoL) scenarios demonstrated that recycling packaging materials could significantly reduce CO 2 emissions by 46% and 48% for metal and glass packaging, respectively. Conclusions: Moreover, the replacement of tinplate cans with glass jars as alternative packaging materials for peeled tomatoes, and glass bottles with carton-based containers or stand-up pouches as alternative packaging materials for tomato puree emerged as more environmentally friendly options across various environmental impact categories.

Keywords: tomato processing industry; packaging; life cycle assessment; recycling; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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