Comparative Analysis of the Environmental Performance of Food Delivery Packaging Using Life Cycle Assessment

The expansion of food delivery has increased the use of disposable packaging, intensifying environmental concerns and the need for more sustainable alternatives. Material choice is critical for food safety and preservation and for reducing impacts across the life cycle. Although several Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) of packaging exist internationally, studies addressing the Brazilian context remain scarce, particularly from a regionalized perspective.
Differences in the energy matrix, production chains, transport distances, and raw material availability can significantly alter LCA results, meaning that conclusions from other countries are not directly transferable to the national context. Regionalizing inventories therefore becomes essential to support more consistent decisions on material choice.
In this context, this study investigates how the main packaging materials for ready meals in food delivery differ in environmental performance throughout production, and whether the advantage of a given material remains consistent across impact categories under the Brazilian production context, with a scope focused on the city of São Paulo. It assesses and compares these packages through an LCA, in accordance with the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards.
A "cradle-to-gate" approach was adopted, covering raw material extraction, processing, manufacturing, and intermediate transport, while excluding distribution, use, and end-of-life stages due to the high variability of these scenarios. The materials compared are polypropylene, expanded polystyrene, aluminum, and paperboard coated with polylactic acid. The functional unit is a container of approximately 500 mL, representative of individual meals and suitable for food contact.
The methodology includes developing a Life Cycle Inventory for each alternative, using data from scientific literature, technical databases, manufacturer specifications, and Brazilian production conditions. The Life Cycle Impact Assessment will be conducted using the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) methodology, allowing the analysis of multiple environmental impact categories.
The study is in the inventory consolidation phase, with impact analyses underway. The results are expected to show whether conclusions from other geographic contexts can be reproduced in Brazil, reinforcing that packaging decisions require analyses contextualized to local production conditions.