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Effect of Brewery Size on the Main Process Parameters and Cradle‐to‐Grave Carbon Footprint of Lager Beer

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  • Alessio Cimini
  • Mauro Moresi

Abstract

Several carbon footprint (CF) studies have been so far carried out to assess the environmental impact of the brewing industry. In this study, a series of reliable secondary data for small‐, medium‐, and large‐sized breweries were collected and used to develop a simplified model to estimate the cradle‐to‐grave (C2G) CF of the production of a functional unit consisting of 1 hectoliter (hL) of lager beer packed in 66‐centiliter (glass or polyethylene terephthalate [PET]) bottles. With reference to the typical operating conditions of nine breweries of different size, the C2G CF was found to increase up to 43% or 45% either for glass or PET bottles as the brewery size reduced from 10 × 106 to 500 hL per year. Whatever the brewery size, the use of PET instead of glass bottles lowered the beer CF by 2.7 ± 0.9%. The contribution of the consumer and postconsumer waste disposal phases was found to be significant. Thus, beer makers should pay attention to the recycling ratio of postconsumer packaging in the sales areas. The C2G CF tended to increase linearly with the overall (thermal and electric) energy needed to produce 1 hL of beer, almost independently of the primary packaging material used. Such a simple and easy‐to‐measure quantitative indicator might be more than sufficient not only to estimate qualitatively the environmental burden of beer production, but also to identify which mitigation opportunities might be explored or to prioritize primary data collection efforts to refine CF calculation.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessio Cimini & Mauro Moresi, 2018. "Effect of Brewery Size on the Main Process Parameters and Cradle‐to‐Grave Carbon Footprint of Lager Beer," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(5), pages 1139-1155, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:inecol:v:22:y:2018:i:5:p:1139-1155
    DOI: 10.1111/jiec.12642
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. María Belén Salazar Tijerino & M. Fernanda San Martín-González & Juan Antonio Velasquez Domingo & Jen-Yi Huang, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment of Craft Beer Brewing at Different Scales on a Unit Operation Basis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-11, July.
    3. Shaoran Geng & Kevin Christopher Dorling & Tobias Manuel Prenzel & Stefan Albrecht, 2024. "Grill and Chill: A Comprehensive Analysis of the Environmental Impacts of Private Household Barbecuing in Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-27, January.
    4. Jesús Morcillo-Bellido & Alfonso Duran-Heras, 2020. "Sustainability Governance Mechanisms in Supply Chains: An Application in the Retail Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Rachel Shin & Cory Searcy, 2018. "Evaluating the Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Craft Beer Industry: An Assessment of Challenges and Benefits of Greenhouse Gas Accounting," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-30, November.

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