Section 1: Introduction and Scope of Study

This study was undertaken at the request of National Consumers League, Washington D. C. They asked for information to use in constructing an educational program for consumers to inform them about the solid waste impact of various packaging options for the products they buy in the supermarket. This report provides that information.

The approach was to select an array of supermarket product categories representative of consumer purchases; to identify within the categories specific products that are offered in a variety of sizes, modes of preparation, or types of packaging. At the suggestion of National Consumers League, we started with the Nielson Top 40 Product Categories List. In addition, we surveyed supermarkets in the Lansing, Michigan area, and we found a number of product categories that should be included that were not on the Nielson list; fresh meat and produce are two examples. There were also some categories on the Nielson list that we believe should not be represented on our list; cigarettes are one example. Some of the Nielson categories were too broad for our purposes, so we divided them according to our needs. As a result, we are reporting on 40 categories of products, represented by 252 products.

Within each product category we chose a range of products that would represent the variety of choices of packaging available in the supermarket. Our objective was to include all combinations of packaging that might result from purchases of product based on life style choices not necessarily related to minimizing packaging solid waste. These choices might include economics of price, economics of size (quantity of net contents), dietary considerations, taste preference, etc. Thus, the consumer can know the packaging solid waste impact of most of the purchase choices available.

The amount of packaging for each product was determined. This was, in fact, a determination of the amount of solid waste resulting from each package type, kind of material, or combination of package type and material. Then, the products were grouped into two "market baskets"; market basket 1 is the group of products using the least packaging, and market basket 2 is the group of products using the most packaging. From these groupings we determined what packaging is associated with "most" and "least" amount of packaging used for supermarket products.

The amount of packaging was determined on both a weight basis, and a volume basis. The weight basis is the easier of the two to determine, and is the easier one for most people to visualize. The volume basis refers to the volume of the solid packaging material that surrounds the product. For some materials and packages, such as paper wraps, it can be determined by measuring the length, width and thickness of the material. For other materials and packages, such as plastic bottles, it is necessary to determine the volume of material (plastic) by measuring the amount of water displaced by the bottle emptied of product. Since the volume determination involves a number of measurements of different kinds, it must be assumed that this method is less precise than is the weight method that requires only a single direct weighing of the material. When the volume has been determined, the amount of compressibility of the package in a landfill is not known, so the effect of the volume is not known with any precision. A plastic wrap will compress to a very small volume, not much more than its own intrinsic volume. A plastic bottle will be much less compressible because of its shape, thickness and stiffness. The void volume of the bottle in a landfill may be a much higher ratio than the void volume for a plastic wrap. The volume of the material is of interest to some researchers now, and it may become of greater interest in the future. Therefore, we have included it in the study.

Once the weight and volume of the packaging (material) were determined, we calculated the weight and volume of packaging material used per unit amount of product. We made this calculation on three

 

 

 

 

 

different bases: 1) per gram of product for solids or per milliliter of product for liquids, 2) per manufacturer’s recommended use, and 3) per standard use. A discussion of these bases follows:

Per gram or per milliliter - This provides a fundamental product based standard for comparison, which may be of interest to some users of this report.

Per manufacturer's recommended use - Foods, especially, and some other products as well, will carry a manufacturer's recommendation for the amount that constitutes a "use" or serving. Probably most consumers use this recommendation as a starting point for their use behavior. National Consumers League has said that they believe this is so. Indeed, for foods, the Food and Drug Administration and the U. S. Department of Agriculture have developed a great deal of tabulated data on the "serving size" for many foods. We assume the manufacturer’s recommendation for number of servings for foods is based on data developed by the government agencies, or on data of equal validity developed by themselves.

Per standard use (food) - Consumers adjust the amount they use for a serving, at least part of the time. It is also true that the recommended serving size varies in nutritional value, such as calories. For this reason, we established a "standard use", or "standard serving" that uses 100 calories as the basis. For this, we have recalculated the amounts from the calorie count given by the manufacturer to a calorie count of 100. Thus, if the manufacturer’s serving is 100 grams with 130 calories, the "standard serving" of 100 calories would be 77 grams.

Per standard use (other than food) - Most non-food products do not have a manufacturer’s recommended number of uses, or quantity of product to be used for a single use. For these we established a standard use based on an ad hoc study among our group to measure a reasonable use size. While this was not done by any designed experiment with proven validity over all consumers, it was done in an unbiased manner, and the same standard was used in all applications, so the comparison of packaging material per use within a product category is based on a constant value.

The specific method for determining the standard use is described in the report section for each product category.

For almost all product categories, the "most packaging used" or "least packaging used" assignment was the same for both volume and weight determinations. For a few categories the assignment would be different for the volume determination than for the weight determination. When this happened, we made the assignment based on the weight determination because it is the more reliable of the two, as described above.

 

Section 2: Market Basket Comparison and Summary.

 

This study compared the amount of packaging material used on a volume and weight basis for 40 product groups containing 252 products. The data collected on each product category allowed for the selection of the packaging that used the least packaging material and the package that used the most packaging material. The products that used the least packaging material are combined through addition in a market basket (market basket 1). Market basket 2 is a combination of products that used the most packaging materials. Figure 1 depicts this data in a bar chart. Table 1 summarizes the two market baskets.

 

Table 1: Comparison of Market Baskets.

Packaging Weight/

Packaging Weight/

Packaging Weight/

Volume Packaging/

Volume Packaging/

Volume Packaging/

Manufacturer serving

Standard Use

Product Weight

Manufacturer Serving

Standard Use

Product Weight

g/serving

g/use

g/g

cm3/serving

cm3/use

cm3/g

Market Basket 1: Least Packaging Material

82.27

72.62

2.07

96.39

87.75

2.37

Market Basket 2: Most Packaging Material

1100.54

1104.18

11.85

724.73

656.84

9.80

Ratio of Market Basket 2 to Market Basket 1

13.4

15.2

5.7

7.5

7.5

4.1

 

 

The products selected in market basket 1 used less packaging material than those products selected in market basket 2. The volume of packaging material per use in market basket 2 was 7.5 times the volume in market basket 1. The packaging weight per use in market basket 2 was 15.2 times the weight in market basket 1. The volume of packaging per gram of product and the packaging weight per gram of product were 4.1 and 5.7 times, respectively, as large in market basket 2 as in market basket 1. The comparisons based on the number of uses or servings are the most relevant in educating consumers to make choices that reduce generation of packaging waste.

 

 

Table 2 shows the product/packaging systems that used the least packaging material and the most packaging material for each product group in the study. These values were combined to create market basket 1 and market basket 2 summarized above. The bold data in the tables throughout the report represent the product/package systems that used the least material, and the italicized data represent the product/package systems that used the most packaging material.

 

 

Table 2: Market Basket 1 - Least Packaging Used & Market Basket 2 - Most Packaging Used

Market Basket 1

Market Basket 2

Packaging Weight/

Packaging Weight/

Packaging Weight/

Volume Packaging/

Volume Packaging/

Volume Packaging/

Packaging Weight/

Packaging Weight/

Packaging Weight/

Volume Packaging/

Volume Packaging/

Volume Packaging/

Manufacturer serving

Standard Use

Product Weight

Manufacturer serving

Standard Use

Product Weight

Manufacturer serving

Standard Use

Product Weight

Manufacturer serving

Standard Use

Product Weight

Product Category

g/serving

g/use

g/g

cm3/serving

cm3/use

cm3/g

g/serving

g/use

g/g

cm3/serving

cm3/use

cm3/g

Baby Food

2.350

3.440

0.147

2.347

3.431

0.147

9.860

12.860

0.735

6.980

9.154

0.523

Baking Mix

0.261

0.194

0.015

0.030

0.022

0.001

6.460

4.516

0.143

5.580

3.900

0.124

Beer

16.000

16.205

0.045

7.700

7.799

0.022

267.698

254.187

0.702

148.370

140.882

0.389

Bread

0.499

0.589

0.017

0.535

0.632

0.018

0.573

0.633

0.018

0.509

0.562

0.016

Candy

2.430

1.191

0.064

2.165

1.061

0.057

6.524

3.376

0.189

9.079

4.698

0.263

Cereal

0.727

0.624

0.023

2.639

2.265

0.083

17.474

14.255

0.548

20.114

16.409

0.629

Cheese

0.322

0.286

0.011

0.215

0.191

0.007

55.080

57.503

1.848

29.542

30.842

0.991

Chips

0.962

0.593

0.034

1.113

0.686

0.039

7.732

4.761

0.272

10.640

6.552

0.374

Cleaners

2.932

2.728

0.091

3.633

3.380

0.113

4.309

4.127

0.070

4.828

4.624

0.078

Cookies

0.675

0.402

0.017

0.716

0.427

0.018

5.192

8.196

0.273

12.545

19.803

0.680

Crackers

0.225

0.374

0.015

0.207

0.344

0.014

2.402

3.764

0.151

2.821

4.421

0.177

Dinners

6.508

2.451

0.091

7.099

2.673

0.099

65.970

19.809

0.184

69.417

20.844

0.194

Dishwashing Detergent-Auto

*

2.889

0.052

*

2.792

0.050

*

3.204

0.057

*

3.423

0.061

Dishwashing Detergent-Hand

*

0.290

0.047

*

0.219

0.035

*

0.430

0.069

*

0.257

0.042

Drink Mix

0.223

0.234

0.385

0.209

0.220

0.361

3.153

3.198

0.186

1.651

1.674

0.097

Eggs

1.304

1.646

0.023

18.118

22.871

0.320

4.042

5.028

0.070

9.986

12.423

0.174

Fruit

0.662

0.877

0.004

0.530

0.702

0.003

56.997

82.185

0.457

18.223

26.277

0.146

Gum

0.444

*

0.098

0.359

*

0.079

0.957

*

0.385

1.070

*

0.385

Hand Soap

*

0.043

0.021

*

0.041

0.019

*

1.170

0.234

*

1.046

0.209

Ice Cream

3.641

1.339

0.034

4.248

1.562

0.040

3.748

2.452

0.053

4.662

3.050

0.066

Juices

4.362

4.334

0.018

4.398

4.370

0.018

80.096

79.680

0.332

38.808

38.604

0.161

Laundry Detergent

0.432

0.427

0.007

0.406

0.401

0.006

19.323

18.830

0.156

12.271

11.958

0.099

Lunch Meat

0.438

1.036

0.015

0.373

0.881

0.013

6.570

10.461

0.110

6.884

10.960

0.115

Margarine

0.650

*

0.045

0.784

*

0.055

1.803

*

0.121

1.720

*

0.115

Meat

1.234

0.366

0.009

13.342

3.954

0.094

4.273

2.029

0.034

33.777

16.039

0.270

Milk

1.550

1.307

0.007

1.621

1.366

0.007

22.768

17.612

0.095

21.482

16.617

0.090

Paper Towel

0.035

0.077

0.015

0.037

0.081

0.015

0.151

0.180

0.099

0.162

0.193

0.106

Pasta

0.305

0.146

0.005

0.582

0.278

0.010

8.380

3.458

0.094

6.316

2.606

0.071

Pet Food

*

1.369

0.022

*

4.278

0.069

*

35.157

0.227

*

5.239

0.034

Poultry

0.309

0.219

0.003

0.348

0.246

0.004

1.443

1.050

0.017

11.733

8.536

0.136

Shampoo

0.501

0.811

0.081

0.387

0.626

0.063

1.050

1.615

0.162

1.109

1.706

0.171

Soft Drink

6.419

6.461

0.027

5.257

5.291

0.022

232.797

231.510

0.965

140.212

139.438

0.581

Soup

1.955

1.675

0.059

1.798

1.540

0.055

105.177

93.276

0.454

33.749

29.930

0.146

Tissues

0.230

0.435

0.034

0.208

0.393

0.030

0.714

1.438

0.091

0.904

1.821

0.116

Toilet Paper

0.004

0.027

0.098

0.004

0.030

0.109

0.016

0.113

0.068

0.015

0.102

0.061

Tomato Product

0.895

*

0.052

0.660

*

0.038

1.305

*

0.074

0.971

*

0.055

Toothpaste

0.170

0.156

0.099

0.219

0.202

0.128

2.202

2.006

1.276

2.385

2.173

1.382

Tuna Fish

12.852

10.640

0.181

3.020

2.500

0.042

47.945

54.009

0.569

27.083

30.509

0.321

Vegetables

0.320

0.882

0.004

0.334

0.921

0.004

15.735

50.758

0.127

4.472

14.425

0.036

Water

4.057

*

0.015

4.509

*

0.017

16.159

*

0.056

10.389

*

0.036

Yogurt

5.390

8.853

0.042

5.524

9.073

0.044

14.459

15.344

0.081

14.274

15.147

0.080

TOTALS

82.273

72.621

2.071

96.389

87.749

2.368

1100.537

1104.180

11.825

724.733

656.844

9.800

The packaging systems that most often appeared in market basket 1 include paper/plastic/foil laminate pouches, single low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bags, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, and plastic pouches. Market basket 2 was primarily composed of packages that used multiple components in the packaging system. These systems include paperboard cartons with internal plastic sealed bags, amber and clear glass jars with paper labels, expanded polystyrene trays (PS) with plastic wrap, and corrugated boxes with plastic/foil pouches inside. Table 3, Figure 1, and Figure 2 show the primary packaging materials found in each market basket.

Table 3: Packaging Materials Found in each Market Basket

Product

Package description

Package Description

Group

Least material: Market Basket 1

Most Material: Market Basket 2

Baby Food

Paper/plastic/foil laminate pouch

Clear glass jar, metal lid, paper label

Baking mix

Plastic pillow pouch

Paperboard box, 2-piece steel can, plastic pouch

Beer

6 aluminum cans, plastic ring holder

Paperboard carton, 6 amber glass bottles

Bread

LDPE plastic bag

LDPE plastic bag, inner plastic wrap

Candy

Plastic pillow pouch, foil wrap, paper cup

LDPE plastic bag, paperboard backing, plastic wraps, paper cups

Cereal

LDPE plastic bag

8 paperboard boxes, 8 plastic bags, outer plastic wrap

Cheese

Plastic pillow pouch

Ceramic jar, metal closure, inner plastic pouch

Chips

Plastic/paper laminate bag

Paperboard tube,paper/plastic/foil seal, HDPE plastic lid

Cleaners

Paperboard laminated box

HDPE bottle

Cookies

Plastic/foil laminate pillow pouch

Paperboard carton, plastic/foil laminate pouch, PS tray

Crackers

LDPE plastic bag

Paperboard carton, plastic pouches

Dinners

Paperboard carton, Plastic/foil/paper laminate pouch

Paperboard carton, PET plastic plate, plastic film cover

Dish Soap, hand

HDPE plastic bottle

PET bottle

Dish Soap, auto

HDPE plastic bottle

Paperboard box, plastic/foil laminate outer wrap

Drink Mix

Plastic/foil/paper laminate pouch

Paperboard tube, HDPE lid, metal lid and bottom

Eggs

EPS foam carton

Pulpboard carton

Fruit

Plastic mesh bag, paper label

Clear glass jar, metal lid

Gum

Plastic outer bag, 4 plastic/foil wraps, paper gum wraps

Paperboard sleeve, plastic blister pack, foil seal

Hand Soap

Plastic outer wrap, 3 plastic/foil laminate wraps

Paperboard outer carton, PET plastic bottle

Ice Cream

Paperboard tub, paper/plastic laminated lid

Paperboard carton, plastic lid

Juice

HDPE gallon jug

Clear glass bottle, metal cap

Laundry Detergent

Plastic bag

HDPE bottle

Lunch meat

LDPE plastic pouch

Paperboard carton, plastic pouch

Margarine

Paperboard carton, 4 paper wraps

HDPE plastic bottle

Meat

EPS tray, plastic wrap

EPS tray, plastic film cover, laminated plastic film covering

Milk

LDPE plastic pouch

6 HDPE pigmented bottles, plastic outer wrapping, 6 shrink wrap labels

Paper Towel

LDPE plastic bag

8 LDPE plastic wraps, outer plastic wrap

Pasta

Plastic pillow pouch

Plastic tray, plastic film cover

Pet Food

Multi-wall paper bag

2-piece steel can, paper label

Poultry

LDPE bag

EPS tray, plastic wrap

Shampoo

PET bottle

HDPE bottle

Soft Drink

PET bottle

Paperboard carton, 6 clear glass bottles

Soup

Paper/plastic/foil laminate pouch

Clear glass jar, metal cap, paper label

Tissues

Plastic outer wrap, 6 plastic tissue wraps

Paperboard box, plastic wrap

Toilet tissue

LDPE plastic wrap (12 rolls)

LDPE plastic wraps (4 rolls)

Tomato Product

PET plastic bottle (64 fl.oz.)

PET plastic bottle (20 fl.oz.)

Toothpaste

Plastic self-standing tube

Paperboard box, plastic molded pump

Tuna Fish

2-piece steel can, paper label

Paperboard carton, 3 PET cups, 3 2-piece steel cans

Vegetables

LDPE bag

3-piece steel can, paper label

Water

HDPE gallon jug

Paperboard carton, 4 PET plastic bottles

Yogurt

6 plastic cups, plastic/foil laminate seal

PS tray, plastic/foil laminate seal

 

 

Table 4: Comparison of Packaging Weight/Standard Use of Market Baskets 1 & 2

Market Basket 1

Market Basket 2

Ratio

Product

Product

Description

Packaging Weight/

Product

Description

Packaging Weight/

2) 11

Group

Number

Standard Use

Number

Standard Use

g/use

g/use

Baby Food

146

Paper/plastic/foil laminate pouch

3.440

133

Clear glass jar, metal lid, paper label

12.860

3.74

Baking mix

40

Plastic pillow pouch

0.194

42

Paperboard box, 2-piece steel can, plastic pouch

4.516

23.28

Beer

247

6 aluminum cans, plastic ring holder

16.205

248

Paperboard carton, 6 amber glass bottles

254.187

15.69

Bread

77

LDPE plastic bag

0.589

79

LDPE plastic bag, inner plastic wrap

0.633

1.07

Candy

72

Plastic pillow pouch, foil wrap, paper cup

1.191

75

LDPE plastic bag, paperboard backing, plastic wraps, paper cups

3.376

2.83

Cereal

6

LDPE plastic bag

0.624

7

8 paperboard boxes, 8 plastic bags, outer plastic wrap

14.255

22.84

Cheese

147

Plastic pillow pouch

0.286

155

Ceramic jar, metal closure, inner plastic pouch

57.503

201.06

Chips

37

Plastic/paper laminate bag

0.593

38

Paperboard tube,paper/plastic/foil seal, HDPE plastic lid

4.761

8.03

Cleaners

250

Paperboard laminated box

2.728

175

HDPE bottle

4.127

1.51

Cookies

23

Plastic/foil laminate pillow pouch

0.402

27

Paperboard carton, plastic/foil laminate pouch, PS tray

8.196

20.39

Crackers

34

LDPE plastic bag

0.374

31

Paperboard carton, plastic pouches

3.764

10.06

Dinners

189

Paperboard carton, Plastic/foil/paper laminate pouch

2.451

191

Paperboard carton, PET plastic plate, plastic film cover

19.809

8.08

Dish Soap, hand

178

HDPE plastic bottle

0.290

177

PET bottle

0.430

1.48

Dish Soap, auto

181

HDPE plastic bottle

2.889

180

Paperboard box, plastic/foil laminate outer wrap

3.204

1.11

Drink Mix

259

Plastic/foil/paper laminate pouch

0.234

121

Paperboard tube, HDPE lid, metal lid and bottom

3.198

13.67

Eggs

171

EPS foam carton

1.646

172

Pulpboard carton

5.028

3.05

Fruit

214

Plastic mesh bag, paper label

0.877

215

Clear glass jar, metal lid

82.185

93.71

Gum2

45

Plastic outer bag, 4 plastic/foil wraps, paper gum wraps

0.444

134

Paperboard sleeve, plastic blister pack, foil seal

0.957

2.16

Hand Soap

10

Plastic outer wrap, 3 plastic/foil laminate wraps

0.043

13

Paperboard outer carton, PET plastic bottle

1.170

27.21

Ice Cream

240

Paperboard tub, paper/plastic laminated lid

1.339

238

Paperboard carton, plastic lid

2.452

1.83

Juice

92

HDPE gallon jug

4.334

88

Clear glass bottle, metal cap

79.680

18.38

Laundry Detergent

115

Plastic bag

0.427

110

HDPE bottle

18.830

44.10

Lunch meat

157

LDPE plastic pouch

1.036

158

Paperboard carton, plastic pouch

10.461

10.10

Margarine2

257

Paperboard carton, 4 paper wraps

0.650

169

HDPE plastic bottle

1.803

2.77

Meat

200

EPS tray, plastic wrap

0.366

199

EPS tray, plastic film cover, laminated plastic film covering

2.029

5.54

Milk

260

LDPE plastic pouch

1.307

252

6 HDPE pigmented bottles, plastic outer wrapping

17.612

13.48

Paper Towel

183

LDPE plastic bag

0.077

184

8 LDPE plastic wraps, outer plastic wrap

0.180

2.34

Pasta

56

Plastic pillow pouch

0.146

54

Plastic tray, plastic film cover

3.458

23.68

Pet Food

66

Multi-wall paper bag

1.369

61

2-piece steel can, paper label

35.157

25.68

Poultry

202

LDPE bag

0.219

203

EPS tray, plastic wrap

1.050

4.79

Shampoo

233

PET bottle

0.811

235

HDPE bottle

1.615

1.99

Soft Drink

138

PET bottle

6.461

142

Paperboard carton, 6 clear glass bottles

231.510

35.83

Soup

205

Paper/plastic/foil laminate pouch

1.675

210

Clear glass jar, metal cap, paper label

93.276

55.69

Tissues

127

Plastic outer wrap, 6 plastic tissue wraps

0.435

123

Paperboard box, plastic wrap

1.438

3.31

Toilet tissue

129

LDPE plastic wrap (12 rolls)

0.027

128

LDPE plastic wraps (4 rolls)

0.113

4.19

Tomato Product2

194

PET plastic bottle (64 fl.oz.)

0.895

195

PET plastic bottle (20 fl.oz.)

1.305

1.46

Toothpaste

229

Plastic self-standing tube

0.156

231

Paperboard box, plastic molded pump

2.006

12.86

Tuna Fish

241

2-piece steel can, paper label

10.640

256

Paperboard carton, 3 PET cups, 3 2-piece steel cans

54.009

5.08

Vegetables

219

LDPE bag

0.882

224

3-piece steel can, paper label