Environmental impact of dry pasta using different standard methods
Author(s)
Date Issued
2021
Type
bookPart
Start Page
101
End Page
127
Abstract
The cradle-to-grave environmental impact of 1 kg of dry pasta, produced from a medium-sized pasta factory located in the North of Italy and packed in 0.5-kg polypropylene bags, was investigated by using a well-known life cycle assessment software in compliance with the cumulative energy demand, PAS 2050, IMPACT 2002+, ReCiPe 2016, and product environmental footprint standard methods.
All these methods allowed durum wheat cultivation and pasta cooking to be identified as the primary and secondary hotspots. Improvements in the cultivation phase were outlined by resorting to conservative farming systems with low N fertilizer inputs. However, the smaller the grain yields, the greater the land occupation and damage to the ecosystem quality became. The replacement of the ordinary home gas-fired hobs with a more eco-sustainable pasta cooker reduced the damage to “climate change,” and “resource depletion". Both mitigation actions reduced the primary energy sources, greenhouse gas emissions, and overall weighted scores of the global environmental impact by about 40%, 48%, and 29%–42% with respect to the reference case, respectively.
Although a more sustainable field phase is still to be identified, the environmental impact of dry pasta might be henceforward relieved by replacing the current domestic appliances with novel energy-saving pasta cookers.