The Sustainable Packaging Coalition defines four life cycle phases of key importance to determining how earth-friendly a package is: sourcing, manufacture, use and end-of-life.
I am going to try to avoid statistics as much as possible. While some statistics are probably OK, in the format of a blog, at a minimum they will put you to sleep and at worst, they are tools used by people trying to prove a point. As someone once said, there are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies and statistics!
Raw Sourcing:
Glass (Bottles)
Glass is made up primarily of SiO2 or silicon dioxide. Also known as silica most commonly found in nature as sand or quartz. Silica is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crustand the second most abundant element. Silica occurs commonly in nature as sandstone, silica sand or quartzite. It is the starting material for the production of silicate glasses and ceramics. It can exist in an amorphous form (vitreous silica) or in a variety of crystalline forms. Often it will occur as a non-crystalline oxidation product on the surface of silicon or silicon compounds.
The production of glass dates to the Egypt, Mesopotamia & Roman empires. (Fifteenth century) Modern glass making dates back to the late 19th century; That is, glass made by machine. Simplified: glass is made up primarily of Sand (Silicone Oxide SiO2), Soda Ash, Limestone, Feldspar and minor ingredients: (Fining agents, decolorizers & colorizers) Glass is remarkable for its strength and being chemically inert. These ingredients are mixed together (Also known as fusion casting) in a large furnace that runs at about 2800°F. Typical glass factory diagram.
Aluminum (Cans)
The chief source of aluminum is bauxite ore is mined and refined into aluminum. Bauxite is combined with caustic soda, lime, and steam to produce a sodium aluminate liquor. Impurities are filtered or settled out of the liquor and alumina hydrate is precipitated out of the mixture. The alumina hydrate is calcined to remove moisture and drive off the bonded water.
The resulting alumina is ready for smelting into aluminum. Alumina is electrolytically reduced into molted aluminum. Aluminum's melting point is approximately 1221°F. This reaction occurs in Hall-Heroult reduction cells (called pots) where the bound oxygen in the alumina reacts with carbon electrodes to form carbon-dioxide gas and aluminum. Each ton of aluminum requires 0.4-.05 tons of carbon anodes. The resulting aluminum is formed into slab ingots that are up to 26 inches thick, 20 feet long, and weigh up to 20 tons each.
The aluminum is then rolled into sheets through the process of forming. The slab is heated in a furnace and rolled between powered rollers until the plate is approximately 1 inch thick. The plates are further reduced in finishing mills where they are hot rolled to a thickness of 0.25 - 0.4 inch. These sheets are rolled into large coils and graded for quality.
Aluminum is too reactive chemically to occur in nature as the free metal. Instead it is found combined in over 270 different minerals. Aluminum is also an abundant metal and the third most abundant after Silicone Oxide and makes up about 8% of the Earth's solid surface. Refined aluminum is remarkable for its ability to resist corrosion.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
PET is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family. Wikipedia. The raw materials are petrochemicals: crude oil, natural gas and ethylene glycol. PET is hydroscopic, meaning that it naturally absorbs water and it must have this moisture removed as much as possible before molding or extruding. Once molded, PET has a high resistance to moisture and is very strong.
Crude oil is a naturally occurring flammable liquid found in rock formations consisting on a complex mixture of hydrocarbons plus other organic compounds. Therefore, PET is an organic compound. PET was invented by DuPont chemists in the 40's during a search to make new textiles. The PET soda bottle was patented in 1973 and a two-piece 2 liter bottle was first used by Coca Cola in 1975.
PET raw materials are either extruded or injection molded and chopped into pellets. PET has a melting point of approximately 480°F. The raw pellets are packed in large pallet sized boxes.
So who wins raws sourcing? Since glass and aluminum are minerals and must be mined using equipment and refined in furnaces using extremely high temperatures, I have to vote for PET here. Sure, PET is refined directly from petroleum byproducts, however the energy costs used in the formation do not begin to add up to the amount of energy used to keep the mining equipment and furnaces running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Energy that comes from Petrochemicals.
Scorecard: Glass = 0, Aluminum = 0, PET = 1
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