PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2019

imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Bunsenstr. 14 69115 Heidelberg, Germany phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 info@hbmedia.net EDITORIAL Kay Barton Heike Fischer Gabriele Kosmehl Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Waldemar Schmitke Anthony Withers WikiPETia.info petplanet@hbmedia.net MEDIA CONSULTANTS Martina Hirschmann hirschmann@hbmedia.net Johann Lange-Brock lange-brock@hbmedia.net phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Werbeagentur | exprim.de Matthias Gaumann READER SERVICES Till Kretner reader@hbmedia.net PRINT Chroma Druck & Verlag GmbH Werkstr. 25 67354 Römerberg Germany WWW www.hbmedia.net | w ww.petpla.net PETplanet Insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ sub- scription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trademarks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 04/19 www.petpla.net I normally just flick through articles in the daily press on plastic waste and plastic bottles and on philosophical arguments about the benefits or otherwise of packaging. However, this time I actually found an interest- ing piece which discussed a study carried out by a certification company, Gutcert, based in Berlin, authored by Professor Dr Ing Jan Uwe Lieback and Sabine Schumacher. Using Berlin as an example, they looked at CO 2 consumption of water in glass and PET bottles as well as drinking water from the tap. What makes this study different from other similar studies is that it is not a universal theory for water that was being sought and subsequently not found, but rather a manageable framework, in this case Berlin, to show where and how much CO 2 is produced by water. Tap water has the best carbon footprint in Germany with the outstand- ing value of 0.02 gCO 2 /l. All the rest produce at least 10,000 times more CO 2 . The fact that tap water, which is not packaged or transported, has a phenomenal CO 2 balance comes as no surprise. But the authors continue. They have studied different types of water bottle packaging in Berlin, ranging from PET EW (disposable) to MW (reusable), glass MW and EW, as well as distance covered. From well springs near Berlin to expensive water from Italy. It has been shown that glass and PET have more or less the same carbon footprint for long distances greater than 1,000 km (around 300 gCO 2 /l). The different CO 2 emissions produced during production and transport are in roughly the same range for both package materials. Packaged water bottles originating from outlying areas (150 km) have a 50% less carbon footprint (150 km gCO 2 /l): whether they are in PET or glass, the ranges are similar. Emissions from water transported from these areas are not so significant. In conclusion. If microplastics are no longer at the forefront of politics and people’s minds when it comes to packaging, the spotlight will fall on society in terms of carbon footprint. And here is a microcosm of how Berlin goes about things – building bottling facilities near to the consumer. What has so far proved economically beneficial is also a big plus from an environmental protection perspective, along with water from the tap! Yours Alexander Büchler https://www.gut-cert.de/files /content/download/Nachhaltige_Entwicklung/ Wasserartikel.pdf?time=2019031507 Dear readers, The carbon balance between CO 2 and water