Environmental life-cycle assessment of various dairy products

The objective of this paper was to assess the environmental performance of the production of six types of dairy products/pasteurized and ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk, yoghurt, cream, butter and cheese/from seven dairy plants of different capacities processing 36% of raw milk in Serbia. A total of 29 life cycle assessment calculations have been performed to identify and quantify the environmental impacts from a cradle-to-grave perspective covering three subsystems: ‘dairy farm’, ‘dairy plant’ and ‘waste and waste water treatment’. Structured surveys in selected dairies have been conducted in order to collect life cycle inventory input data. Six environmental impact potentials were calculated in this study: global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential, ozone layer depletion, photochemical smog and human toxicity. The focus of the research was put on global warming potential, acidification potential and eutrophication potential. As a general finding, this study confirmed previous research that the largest contributor to the environmental profile is the raw milk production at dairy farms. Contributions of the dairy processing plants are mainly due to energy requirement and inputs of goods at the dairy gate. Mitigation options for optimization of environmental impacts rely on the choice of the production/packaging portfolio, energy fuel profile, water optimization and waste management.