Which is more environmentally friendly, canister or bag-in-box

The bag-in-box(BiB) is significantly more environmentally friendly than another packaging.

The empty packaging is delivered flat, takes up little space, and can be easily stored and transported on pallets after filling. This leads to significant savings in logistics costs and CO2 emissions because the ratio of packaging weight to product volume is very good. For example, one truck transporting 5 liters of Bag-in-Box is equivalent to more than 7 trucks transporting 75 cL glass bottles. At the same time, the Bag-in-Box also takes up little space in storage thanks to its rectangular shape.

In several LCA (life cycle assessment) studies, Bag-in-Box clearly shows the best results, with a carbon footprint eight times lower than glass bottles. The water and energy consumption for the production of Bag-in-Box is relatively low compared to other types of packaging. This is particularly important as the increase in greenhouse gas emissions is the main driver of global warming, leading to sea level rise, mass extinction of species, and extreme weather conditions, among other things.

The bag-in-box packaging material consists of an inner bag made of film composite material (usually aluminum/HDPE or polyethylene (PE) in combination with ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH)), which is protected by an outer carton. The inner bag is fitted with a plastic tap. The cardboard box can be produced CO2-neutral from FSC-certified paper. After use, it can be disposed of as waste paper and is then recycled again. After emptying, all that remains with the Bag-in-Box is the plastic bag, which can simply be disposed of via the yellow bag. Unfortunately, it cannot yet be recycled because of the aluminum layer. There are packaging manufacturers who are developing an inner bag for BiB that can be recycled. When these come on the market, recycling can become even more efficient – also depending on the infrastructure for waste collection, separation, and recycling in the respective country.