Lifecycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Infant Formula
Public Deposited- Last Modified
- February 28, 2019
- Creator
-
Tinling, Melissa
- Affiliation: Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering
- Abstract
- Infant formula contributes to greenhouse gas emissions at all stages of the life cycle, from dairy farm to landfill. Although the health concerns of infant formula are well documented the environmental impacts have not been examined. This study is a partial life cycle assessment of the total greenhouse gas emissions from all stages in a model US infant formula lifecycle. 14.7 kg CO2-eq are emitted per kg of infant formula consumed, or over 2.6 million tons CO2-eq for total US production in 2005. Offsetting these emissions would cost about $8 per infant per year of consumption. Greatest contributing sectors to the lifecycle are raw milk production at the dairy farm (55.4%) and consumer preparation activities (17.4%). The results of this preliminary LCA suggest that breast milk substitution is a significant source of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Evidence-based advocacy for breastfeeding may benefit from understanding the environmental consequences of infant formula.
- Date of publication
- April 2011
- DOI
- Resource type
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Advisor
- West, J. Jason
- Labbok, Miriam
- Whalen, Stephen
- Degree
- Bachelor of Science in Public Health
- Academic concentration
- Environmental Health Sciences
- Degree granting institution
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Graduation year
- 2011
- Language
- Deposit record
- e00f1df6-6c31-41ba-867b-150d86a8c8cb
- Date uploaded
- June 30, 2016
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