Life Cycle Assessment of pasta production

In this article, life cycle assessment was used to evaluate the environmental performances of the production and the distribution of durum wheat pasta, in the Italian market. In accordance with a cradle-to-grave approach, the environmental impact of the whole manufacturing process was assessed, taking into account the energetic flows, the consumption of materials and the emissions of pollutants. Results revealed that the agricultural production (i.e., cultivation of wheat) and the production of durum wheat semolina were the subprocesses that accounted for most of the environmental load. Therefore, to improve the environmental performance, an alternative production system was designed in which organic agriculture was used to produce wheat; recyclable cardboard was used as the only packaging material, and a more efficient dust collecting system was installed at the mill (for semolina production). The obtained environmental improvements were finally presented and further discussed. Since the late 90s, the Italian producers of pasta have been striving to improve the environmental performance of their productive process and, nowadays, this effort is being extended to the whole supply chain. This article highlights the stages that account for most of the environmental impact (i.e., hot spots) during the production of durum wheat pasta. Suggestions and insight to reduce the overall environmental load are also provided, and their potential benefits are evaluated, in comparison with the traditional productive process. Therefore, this work can be useful for practitioners of the agri-food industry, who wish to improve the environmental performance of their productive process.