A Permanent Solution for Circularity in Europe LCA Highlights Metal Packaging’s Long-Term Progress
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The latest Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)1 reinforces this positive trend. It is the most comprehensive LCA conducted for the European metal packaging industry, covering 1.5 million tonnes of steel cans and 1 million tonnes of aluminium cans produced by MPE corporate members.
The results show significant progress compared with the previous LCA2:
- Climate change impact reductions:
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Aluminium beverage and aluminium food can manufacturing reduced GHG emissions by an average of 31%.
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Steel aerosol can manufacturing achieved a 14% reduction.
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Tinplate production in Europe achieved a 10% reduction.
- Energy efficiency improvements:
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Steel general line can manufacturing reduced electricity consumption by 18%.
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Aluminium beverage can manufacturing reduced electricity consumption by 6% and heat demand by 15%.
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Steel food can manufacturing reduced electricity consumption by 5%.
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Steel aerosol can manufacturing reduced heat demand by 10%.
- Material efficiency and lightweighting:
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Aluminium food cans are 19% lighter.
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Steel general line cans are 13% lighter.
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Steel aerosol cans are 10% lighter.
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Aluminium beverage and steel food cans maintained optimised lightweight profiles.
High-quality recycling remains one of metal’s greatest strengths. A 1% rise in recycling rates reduces the carbon footprint by an average of 1.4% across metal packaging formats.
Steel and aluminium are permanent materials that can be recycled forever without losing quality, making them essential to Europe’s climate ambitions and long-term economic resilience. As Europe advances its next phase of climate and environmental legislation, metal packaging provides clear evidence that circular systems can perform at scale.
Metal packaging delivers both quality for consumers and true circularity for Europe, a success story built on permanent materials that must be protected and strengthened.