Featured Application
The proposed methodological framework is applicable across secondary and tertiary packaging configurations for bulk products. By systematically recalculating and optimizing package dimensions, the framework enables measurable reductions in the associated ecological footprint, particularly with respect to carbon dioxide emissions. These environmental gains arise from enhanced transport efficiency manifested in increased payload capacity per pallet and from the decreased consumption of corrugated cardboard required for packaging.
Abstract
Packaging is a fundamental component of food supply chains, enabling product protection, handling, and distribution from production to final consumption. In this context, the selection of secondary and tertiary packaging dimensions plays a critical role in improving logistics efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with material use and transportation. This study proposes a sustainable packaging logistics (SPL) framework that systematically evaluates and optimizes packaging carton dimensions to enhance pallet utilization, transport efficiency, and packaging material efficiency. The framework is applied to a real-world case study from a meat processing company, demonstrating how alternative carton dimension configurations, while maintaining a constant product weight and functional equivalence, can significantly influence pallet-loading efficiency, transported payload, and associated CO2-equivalent emissions. Rather than constituting a full life cycle assessment (LCA), the proposed approach adopts LCA-informed indicators to quantify material and transport related emission implications of packaging design choices. By integrating packaging design, palletization constraints, and logistics performance, the SPL framework provides a structured analytical basis for identifying packaging configurations that reduce material intensity and transport-related emissions. The results highlight the importance of packaging dimension optimization as a practical and scalable strategy for emission reduction in food supply chains. The proposed framework is intended to support decision-making in packaging design and to serve as a robust preparatory tool for future, more comprehensive LCA studies.