En plastflaska kan vara ett bättre miljöval än en glasflaska. Åtminstone om glasflaskan är tung och har transporterats långt.
– Tunga förpackningar ger en hög klimatpåverkan under transporten. Så för till exempel ett mikrobryggeri som säljer ölen lokalt, kan glasflaskor vara ett alternativ, men inte för en producent som säljer öl över hela världen, säger Katrin Molina-Besch, som forskar om matförpackningar ur ett miljöperspektiv på LTH i Lund.
Plast inte alltid sämst
From a climate point of view, square packages are also better than round ones because it is possible to pack more squares in a truck, which thus reduces the number of transports.
This makes the choice between crushed tomatoes in a tin can and a square carton easy.
The scolded plastic is not always bad.
- Compared to aluminum and glass, plastic is a very light material that has a good barrier function that prevents food waste, says Katrin Molina-Besch.
Cheese great climate impact
When it comes to cheese, it has such a large climate impact that, according to Katrin Molina-Besch, it is more important that the cheese is eaten than that the packaging is climate-smart.
Even when the packaging consists of fossil space.
- The cheese needs plastic because it must be protected from moisture and microorganisms so that it lasts a long time.
The problem today is that we are bad at recycling plastic and that the industry uses so many different types of plastic that not all of them can be recycled.
See researcher Katrin Molina-Besch evaluate different packaging in the clip.