Banana fibre-biocomposite applied to bottle lid case - life-cycle engineering model for material selection

Environmental awareness of the effects of single-use plastic packaging and the shortage of non-renewable resources have encouraged the search for alternative materials. Most of single-use plastic packaging is in the food sector, including bags, straws, bottle lids, coffee stirrers, soda and water bottles. Biopolymers and biocomposites have a high potential to be eco-friendly, economic and technically competitive with fossil-based plastics and conventional composites. This paper presents a case study of life-cycle analysis supporting the design and development of a bottle lid as food packaging by applying a life-cycle engineering methodology to select a biocomposite material. Two current materials with high density polyethylene (HDPE) and polylactic acid (PLA) and 10 alternative biocomposite materials of hybrid matrix (mixtures of HDPE and PLA) and contents of banana fibre (BF) were evaluated. The analysis is performed by integrating of life cycle assessment, life cycle cost and technical analysis. The results show that the material with higher BF content is the best alternative both technically and environmentally, while the material with lower BF content is the best alternative economically. Therefore, the importance attributed to each dimension of analysis is pondered and traded-off to allow an aggregated analysis of the alternatives and a well-informed decision-making.