Análise comparativa de estruturas desenhadas para serem recicláveis voltadas ao mercado de pet food

Abstract

Due to the increase in consumption of products in the pet food market, there was a considerable expansion in the manufacture of packaging for products aimed at this market, mainly for large bags of pet food. Due to the current concern involving preserving the environment for future generations, there is a necessity to develop more sustainable products to minimize or prevent environmental impacts. Therefore, to meet jointly these requirements and the competitive market trends, by the year 2025 there is a concern about replacing non-recyclable packaging for packaging designed to be recyclable or reusable. The present work aims to compare and analyze the mechanical properties, water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) and the life cycle impact of a conventional food bag type packaging, which is mainly constituted by a layer of polyethylene and the second layer composed with a blend of polyethylene and polyamide, with three options designed to be recyclable, in other word, without polyamide, which makes mechanical recycling unfeasible. The biggest challenge is to develop a new formulation maintaining the characteristics and properties of a conventional used packaging containing polyamide, once the polymer provides greater thermal and mechanical resistance. The present work found that the options designed to be recyclable present similar results with the reference struture, highlighting the water vapor transmission rate of 0,76 g/(m2.day) presented by item 3 which gives the best WVTR value among the analyzed structures. Furthermore, the life cycle impact analysis was performed comparing the reference item with recyclable options. The recyclable options achieved positive results in terms of minimizing environmental impact rates.