What does the environmentally conscious consumer reach for when choosing between ketchup in a glass bottle and ketchup in a plastic bottle? The glass bottle, of course. However, that isn't always the right choice. "Glass is not fundamentally and in all cases more sustainable than plastic as a packaging material," says Rupert Baumgartner, head of the new Christian Doppler Laboratory for Sustainable Product Management in a Circular Economy at the University of Graz.

"Because glass is much heavier, and factors such as production, transport and recyclability also have to be included in the life cycle assessment." Glass is resource-intensive to produce, and recycling it also consumes a great deal of energy. By contrast, plastic bottles are highly recyclable, provided they consist of a single type of plastic. However, as soon as a composite material is involved, recycling becomes even more difficult than with glass.

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