Comparing two types of mainstream disposable lunch boxes by LCA and exploring the possibility of converting carbon dioxide into products

BACKGROUND: A disposable lunch box is an important cause of “white pollution”. Many people consider that the disposable polylactic acid (PLA) lunch box is more environmentally friendly than the disposable paper pulp lunch box and can substitute for the latter. OBJECTIVE: We can determine whether PLA tableware is more environmentally friendly than paper tableware by analyzing the product life cycle of two tableware types. At the same time, as a continuous compound, carbon dioxide has significant commercial value. Carbon dioxide materials' applications range from beverages to cosmetics and building materials. The future application of carbon dioxide in the field of lunch boxes is discussed in this paper. METHODS: In this paper, the production stages of the two types of disposable lunch boxes were compared and surveyed using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. CONCLUSION: The results reveal that the main impact of the two types of lunch boxes is resource damage; the PLA lunch box is not better than the paper type; the production stage of the disposable PLA lunch box poses greater damage to the environment in all aspects than the paper type. DISCUSSION: Against the background of carbon neutrality and based on the constantly mature carbon dioxide conversion technology, the author explored the possibility of making products from carbon dioxide and proposed to make product designs based on carbon dioxide.