title: Waste prevention in liquid detergent distribution: a comparison based on life cycle assessment.
abstract: The distribution of liquid detergents through self-dispensing systems has been adopted in some Italian retail stores over the last few years. By enabling the consumer to refill several times the same container, it is proposed as a less waste-generating and more environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional distribution with single-use plastic containers. For this reason, its implementation is encouraged by the national waste prevention programme recently adopted in Italy. In order to assess such claims, a life cycle assessment was carried out to evaluate whether detergent distribution through self-dispensing systems actually allows to achieve the expected reduction in waste generation and environmental impacts. The focus was on the distribution within the large-scale retail trade and on the categories of laundry detergents, fabric softeners and hand dishwashing detergents. For each of them, a set of baseline single-use scenarios were compared with two alternative waste prevention scenarios, where the detergent is distributed through self-dispensing systems. Beyond waste generation, also the Cumulative Energy Demand and thirteen midpoint-level potential impact indicators were calculated for the comparison. Results showed that a reduction in waste generation up to 98% can be achieved, depending on the category of detergent, on the baseline scenario of comparison and on the number of times the refillable container is used. A progressive reduction in the energy demand and in most of the potential impacts was also observed, starting from a minimum number of uses of the refillable container.
authors.affiliation: Politecnico di Milano, DICA-Environmental section, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy. Electronic address: simone.nessi@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nessi
authors.affiliation: Politecnico di Milano, DICA-Environmental section, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy. Electronic address: lucia.rigamonti@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rigamonti
authors.affiliation: Politecnico di Milano, DICA-Environmental section, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy. Electronic address: mario.grosso@polimi.it.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grosso
mesh_terms: D003902:Detergents / Q000032:analysis*; D004777:Environment; D007558:Italy; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D003902:Detergents; D014873:Water Pollutants
keywords: Detergent distribution; Life cycle assessment (LCA); Loose detergent; Self-dispensing; Waste prevention