Life cycle assessment of baby leaf spinach: Reduction of waste through interventions in growing treatments and packaging

Salad vegetables are an important dietary nutrient source, but are prone to spoilage, and actions to reduce waste are being explored and assessed. The Leaf No Waste project aims to reduce food and packaging waste in Ireland, by extending the shelf life of leafy vegetables through growing treatments and packaging choices. This LCA study assessed environmental impacts of a silicon foliar treatment and packaging choices - Oriented Polypropylene (OPP) and Polylactide Acid (PLA) for baby leaf spinach, focussing on climate change, terrestrial acidification, freshwater eutrophication, fossil resource scarcity, and water use. The production of spinach, storage, packaging, retail, and waste management of the spinach supply chain are included in the system boundary, for 1 kg packed baby leaf spinach. The results illustrate that the silicon foliar treatment reduces waste, and LCA of the silicon foliar treatment for baby leaf spinach in OPP packaging under 3-day shelf life demonstrates limited effects on climate change (323 vs 321 g CO2-eq/kg), freshwater eutrophication (21.4 vs 20.9 mg P-eq/kg), and water use (10.2 vs 10 L/kg), increased impact on fossil resource scarcity (98.6 vs 91.4 g oil-eq/kg) and lowers impact on terrestrial acidification (3573 vs 3997 mg SO2-eq/kg). PLA packaging has a greater impact than OPP packaging in all impact categories, except fossil resource scarcity. The 7-day shelf life causes more impacts than the 3-day shelf life, except for the scenario with PLA packaging in the impact category of fossil resource scarcity. The results of this study identify environmental hotspots of an Irish spinach supply chain and are preliminary evidence to support actions to reduce waste in fresh leaf spinach supply chains from packaging to retail.