Environmental impacts of chocolate production and consumption in the UK
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Chocolate products are the most widespread desserts and snacks around the globe (ICCO, 2016). They are made from cocoa beans obtained from the tree Theobroma cacao, an indigenous tree to South America (Afoakwa, 2016). Cocoa was firstly cultivated by the Aztecs while the Spanish were the first to bring its beverage to Europe in the 15th century (Afoakwa, 2016). At that time, chocolate was very expensive and its consumption was reserved for the wealthier social classes in Europe. Later on, with addition of milk and sugar as well as due to the breakup of the cocoa monopoly, chocolate became more popular (Beckett, 2009). The use of cocoa to produce diverse and industrialised products began in the UK in the 19th century where the first plain chocolate bars were produced (Beckett, 2009).
Cocoa is mainly cultivated around the equator in humid climate conditions. Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ecuador and Brazil are the major producers and exporters of cocoa beans (ICCO, 2016). According to ICCO (2016), the annual production of cocoa beans in 2016 was 4.25 million tonnes. The worldwide sales of chocolate were estimated to be worth more than US$101 billion in 2015 (Statista, 2015) with Europe accounting for 45% of the global consumption (Afoakwa, 2016). Chocolate products are also very popular in the UK – with an estimated consumption of 7.9 kg/person (Afoakwa, 2016), the country ranks the sixth highest chocolate-consuming country in the world (Caobisco, 2015).
The UK chocolate confectionary sector, which was worth £4.34 billion in 2014, grew by 16.4% and is expected to grow by a further 8.8% by 2019 (Key Note, 2015). The sector is divided into four categories: i) chocolate countlines; ii) sharing bags and boxed chocolates (‘chocolates in bag’); iii) blocks and moulded bars (‘moulded chocolates’); and iv) other chocolate confectionary goods. The first three categories account for more than 90% of the total sales volume, most of which are milk-based products as dark chocolate is not very popular in the UK. As shown in Fig. 1, chocolate countlines dominate the market with the share of 41.8%, followed by chocolates in bag (30%) and moulded chocolates (19.5%). The remaining 8.7% are other chocolate confectionary products which include seasonal products, such as those sold during Christmas and Easter, and various “novelty” products (Key Note, 2015).
So far, there have been few other studies of environmental impacts of chocolates. Most of these focused on dark chocolate, with two studies based in Italy (Recanati, Marveggio, & Dotelli, 2018; Vesce et al., 2016), one in Ecuador (Neira Perez, 2016) and one in Europe in general (Busser & Jungbluth, 2009). The last also considered milk chocolate in aluminium packaging. All the studies followed the life cycle of chocolate from cradle to grave, apart from that by Vesce et al. (2016) which was a gate-to-gate study. Unlike the previous studies which concentrated on individual chocolate products, this paper considers a range of chocolate confectionary products to evaluate environmental impacts of chocolate production and consumption in the UK. The next section provides details on the product categories considered and gives an overview of the methodology used to evaluate the environmental impacts.
Section snippets
Methodology
Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to estimate the impacts of chocolate products, following the ISO 14040/14044 guidelines (ISO, 2006a, ISO, 2006b). The methodology, data and the assumptions are described in more detail in the following sections.
Results and discussion
The results are presented in Fig. 3 and Tables S-1 and S-2 in the Supplementary information (SI) and are discussed for each impact in turn below.
Conclusions
This study assessed the life cycle environmental impacts associated with the main chocolate products produced and consumed in the UK: moulded chocolates, chocolate countlines and chocolates in bag. The results suggest that the raw materials production is the major hotspot across all impact categories. Packaging and manufacturing also influence the impacts, while transport has a significant contribution to ozone depletion, fossil fuel depletion and formation of photochemical oxidants. The
Acknowledgement
This research has been founded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EPSRC (Grant no. EP/F007132/1). This funding is gratefully acknowledged.
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