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Life Cycle analysis study of Synthetic, Jute and Paper Woven Sacks illustrate the advantag ...
 
Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi conducted an exhaustive life cycle study (in the Indian environment ) on various types of 50 kg bags used for packaging of several commodities, including cement, fertilizers and food grains. Some of these products have been so far reserved exclusively for jute bags essentially to protect the jute growing community. This study, involving the entire cycle from production of raw materials, conversion to bags, transportation of the packed commodity product to the disposal and recovery of the basic raw materials in the Indian environment reveals some very interesting facts:
Synthetic bags made from HDPE/PP are much lighter and save almost 3 to 5 times of packaging material as compared to jute and paper bags.
The lower material weight obviously would save significant amount of energy during manufacture of raw materials and conversion into bags. The study shows that jute bags would require almost 50% more energy and paper bags about 300% more energy compared to synthetic bags.
Synthetic bags require very insignificant amount of water compared to jute and paper bags. Similarly, the consumption of chemicals for synthetic bags is negligible as compared to jute and paper bags.
The lighter weight of the synthetic bags provides significant saving of fuel and therefore energy during transportation.

What is most important is that synthetic bags can be easily recycled or incinerated to produce energy after their use is completed. The energy saving during recycling with synthetic bags is higher compared to the other two types of bags. Synthetic bags can provide sustainable development and is fully recyclable or renewable. They also help in controlling the environment better than jute and paper bags.

The results of the study are described in the table below:

Jute
PP-HDPE
Paper
Material
Required
(tonne)
12290
2310
7200
Energy
(thousand
GJ)
Water
(thousand
lakh litres)
Chemical (tonne)

Energy
(thousand
GJ)
Water(
(thousand
lakh litres)
Chemical (tonne)

Energy(
thousand
GJ)
Water(
thousand
lakh litres)
Chemical
(tonne)
Phase I
(Production
of Raw
Material)
153.6
12.0
258.5
178.3
1.4
0.014
612.0
18.0
4647
Phase II
(Production
of Sacks)
179.4
9.7
Neg
ligible
48.5
1.0
Neg
ligible
57.6
Neg
ligible
Neg
ligible
Total 333.0 21.7 258.5 226.8 2.4 0.014 669.6 18.0 4647
 
Phase III
Usage

(Transportation per 100 km distance, 9 tonne truckload and 3.05 km/I fuel consumption)
           Jute
           PP-HDPE
Paper
Excess
Fuel
(thousand
litres)
Excess
Energy
(GJ)

Excess
Fuel
(thousand
litres)
Excess
Energy
(GJ)

Excess
Fuel
(thousand
litres)
Excess
Energy
(GJ)

36.3
2035.9
Taken as basis (Zero Consumption)
16.6
927.9
 
Phase IV
Waste
Management
Jute
PP-HDPE
Paper
Recycling
Incineration
Recycling
Incineration
Recycling
Incineration
(Energy saving1
thousand GJ)

(Energy recovery
thousand GJ)

(Energy saving1
thousand GJ)

(Energy recovery
thousand GJ)

(Energy
saving1
thousand GJ)

(Energy recovery
thousand GJ)


-
-
46.75
95.31
32.26
169.11
The study was sponsored by Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment (ICPE), New Delhi. To obtain the report published in late 2002, CLICK HERE
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