Life cycle assessment of tomato paste production: a case study

Abstract

This study involves the cradle -to -gate life cycle assessment of tomato paste production in Turkey. All the data was obtained from a large-scale production company located in north-west Turkey in 2020. CCaLC software with Ecoinvent2 database alongside CML2001 method was used for the analysis and the following impacts were taken into account: acidification potential, carbon footprint, eutrophication potential, human toxicity potential, ozone layer depletion potential, and photochemical smog potential. Functional unit was chosen as 1 kg of tomato paste sold in glass jars. The results show that the biggest contributor to environmental impacts was the raw material supply stage, mainly due to fungicide (for agriculture) and metal (for packaging) use. Energy required for agricultural and production processes were also found to have significant effects of the impacts. The results were found to be in very good consistency with earlier literature. Using photovoltaic panels for meeting 10% of the electricity demand of agricultural and production processes or utilizing tomato harvesting waste to produce biomethane were found to have almost no positive effects as far as impact reduction is concerned. These results show that switching to organic farming seems to be essential if environmental impacts of processed food products such as tomato paste are to be reduced.