Parametric analysis of environmental performance of reused/recycled packaging

Annual environmental performance of packaging products which are reused at least once per year is analyzed with respect to three specific criteria: (1) waste quantities, (2) virgin material demand and resource depletion, and (3) environmental impacts from manufacturing. Packaging flow performance is assessed via a combined reuse/ recycle rate index expressed solely in terms of two dimensionless parameters: the conventional recycling rate and the mean number of reuse trips. Quantitative expressions describe the effect of the following physical quantities: annual reuse frequency, lifetime, maximum number of reuse trips, amount of packaging present in the market, annual production plus net trade imports, recycle rate of consumer discard, reuse rate and consumer discard. The results may serve for packaging monitoring and assessment of alternative packaging systems and for setting more efficient environmental policy targets in terms of the reuse/recycle rate.