Sustainable Environmental Analysis of Wooden Boxes for Fruit and Vegetable Packaging and Transport in Comparison with Corrugated Cardboard Boxes

This study analyses the environmental sustainability of using wooden boxes (WBs) compared to corrugated cardboard boxes (CCBs) for the transport of fruit and vegetable products, where the same box size between WB and CCB is assessed and compared. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) followed ISO 14040:2006 and ISO 14044:2006 standards, using the ReCiPe 2016 MidPoint methodology. The following impact categories analysed for sustainability impact, evaluation and monitoring are included: global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, human toxicity and abiotic resource depletion. The study covered all the stages of packaging life through cradle-to-grave analysis. The study results show that CCBs have a higher environmental impact across most categories despite being single-use packaging systems. The comparison between both packaging systems shows that WBs are a more sustainable alternative, with lower overall environmental impacts in fruit and vegetable packaging and transport. As a general conclusion, WBs have a lower overall environmental impact than CCBs, especially in the key impact criteria of global warming potential, acidification, eutrophication, human non-carcinogenic toxicity, fossil resource depletion and water consumption. Due to that, the wooden box is a more sustainable material for fruit and vegetable packaging, logistics and transport than the corrugated cardboard box, considering the scope and destination analysed.