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Purpose <p>This study aims to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of molded pulp cups, identify key environmental hotspots across their life cycle, validate assessment results through multi-software cross-comparison, and propose targeted optimization strategies to enhance their sustainability, ultimately providing theoretical and practical support for the development of the green packaging industry.</p> Methods <p>A multi-software integrated LCA framework was adopted, with SimaPro as the core platform, supplemented by LCA for Experts (formerly GaBi), eFootprint and GIS-LCA for cross-validation. The Environmental Footprint (EF) 3.1 method was adopted to evaluate 16 environmental impact categories, and sensitivity analysis of slurry ratio and electrical energy, uncertainty analysis (Monte Carlo simulation), and end-life (EoL) scenario modeling were conducted to ensure the rigor and reliability of the results.</p> Results and discussions <p>The LCA results indicate that power consumption during the shaping stage is a major contributor to the total environmental impact, especially in key categories such as climate change and depletion of fossil resources. Sensitivity analysis indicates that a 10% fluctuation in energy input leads to a 6.8% to 8.8% change in key environmental indicators. The implementation of the clean energy transition strategy has led to a 76.8% reduction in carbon emissions per 1,000 cups. Increasing the proportion of bamboo pulp from 55% to 65% can reduce the impact of climate change by approximately 5.5% and cut the use of fossil resources by up to 9.1%. Moreover, enhancing the recovery rate can alleviate the adverse climate change effects brought about by incineration and landfill. Cross-platform comparison highlights the significant differences in environmental assessment, mainly due to the selection of background databases and the variations in characteristic factors. However, all tools unanimously agree that the production and consumption of electricity are the core drivers of environmental impact.</p> Conclusions <p>This study advocates promoting clean energy and intelligent energy management in the production of molded pulp cups. While ensuring the physical properties of the products, it aims to optimize the pulp ratio, establish a regional closed-loop recycling network, increase the recycling rate, and develop high-value reuse technologies for recycled fibers to reduce environmental impact and promote green packaging solutions. This study highlights the significance of multi-software verification in LCA and suggests that future research should investigate the synergy across multiple platforms to conduct more detailed environmental impact assessments.</p>

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Environmental impact analysis of molded pulp cups based on different LCA tools

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月9日

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  • Nuan Zhang,
  • Qinghua Yang,
  • Qinbao Lin,
  • Yanfei Cheng,
  • Zhihao Zhang,
  • Hongsheng Ma

摘要

Purpose

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of molded pulp cups, identify key environmental hotspots across their life cycle, validate assessment results through multi-software cross-comparison, and propose targeted optimization strategies to enhance their sustainability, ultimately providing theoretical and practical support for the development of the green packaging industry.

Methods

A multi-software integrated LCA framework was adopted, with SimaPro as the core platform, supplemented by LCA for Experts (formerly GaBi), eFootprint and GIS-LCA for cross-validation. The Environmental Footprint (EF) 3.1 method was adopted to evaluate 16 environmental impact categories, and sensitivity analysis of slurry ratio and electrical energy, uncertainty analysis (Monte Carlo simulation), and end-life (EoL) scenario modeling were conducted to ensure the rigor and reliability of the results.

Results and discussions

The LCA results indicate that power consumption during the shaping stage is a major contributor to the total environmental impact, especially in key categories such as climate change and depletion of fossil resources. Sensitivity analysis indicates that a 10% fluctuation in energy input leads to a 6.8% to 8.8% change in key environmental indicators. The implementation of the clean energy transition strategy has led to a 76.8% reduction in carbon emissions per 1,000 cups. Increasing the proportion of bamboo pulp from 55% to 65% can reduce the impact of climate change by approximately 5.5% and cut the use of fossil resources by up to 9.1%. Moreover, enhancing the recovery rate can alleviate the adverse climate change effects brought about by incineration and landfill. Cross-platform comparison highlights the significant differences in environmental assessment, mainly due to the selection of background databases and the variations in characteristic factors. However, all tools unanimously agree that the production and consumption of electricity are the core drivers of environmental impact.

Conclusions

This study advocates promoting clean energy and intelligent energy management in the production of molded pulp cups. While ensuring the physical properties of the products, it aims to optimize the pulp ratio, establish a regional closed-loop recycling network, increase the recycling rate, and develop high-value reuse technologies for recycled fibers to reduce environmental impact and promote green packaging solutions. This study highlights the significance of multi-software verification in LCA and suggests that future research should investigate the synergy across multiple platforms to conduct more detailed environmental impact assessments.