| dc.description.abstract | Plastic waste is one of the most alarming types of waste due to its low degradability and tendency to pollute aquatic environments and the food chain. The bottled water industry is one of the sources that can increase environmental pollution due to the use of plastic packaging. This study aims to calculate the environmental impact of polycarbonate and PET gallon mineral water packaging and to determine which packaging is more environmentally friendly. The study uses a gate-to-grave approach, with the environmental impacts calculated being global warming, fossil fuel depletion, smog, acidification, and carcinogens. The results show that the source of environmental impact is global warming, with PET gallons producing 12.463 kg CO2 eq and PC gallons producing 1.691 kg CO2 eq. The second impact is Fossil Fuel Depletion, where PET gallons produce the highest impact of 10.359 MJ surplus, while PC gallons produce 1.55 MJ surplus. The third impact is Smog, with PET gallons producing 0.346 kg O3 eq and PC gallons producing 0.054 kg O3 eq. The fourth impact is Acidification, where PET gallons produce the highest impact of 0.05 kg SO2 eq, while PC gallons produce 0.006 kg SO2 eq. The final impact is carcinogenicity, where PET gallons have the greatest impact at 1.42 × 10-8 CTUh, while PC gallons have an impact of 2.46 × 10-9 CTUh. Of all impact categories, PET gallons have the highest impact, making PC gallons a more environmentally friendly packaging option. In this case, electricity consumption in the packaging production process has the highest contribution to each impact category, at 90%. | en_US |
