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ENVL 4300: Environmental Issues
Ecological Footprint
Libby D’Albero & Stacy Fernandez
Environmental Consequence
Product and use Product: pure 100% peanuts peanut butter (for simplicity’s
sake we will be discussing peanut butter in its most basic
form, although it often takes additions of salt, sugars,
hydrogenated oils, and other preservatives)
Use: dietary intake
Background, source Americans began growing peanuts as a commercial crop in
& extraction the 1800s. They were first grown in Virginia for food, oil,
description and as a cocoa substitute. As a cheap and easy crop, peanuts
were considered food for livestock and the poor. Although
some form of peanut butter had been used by the Incas in
South America, Harvey Kellog was the first to introduce the
idea to the US in 1895 (Wheeling, 2021).
Today, peanuts are the twelfth most valuable cash crop in the
US. Peanut butter consumption alone accounts for $850
million in retail sales each year (Wheeling, 2021).
Peanuts are grown in the Southeastern United States and are
usually harvested from September to November. They
provide nitrogen fixation in the soil and require less water
compared to other crops. Most commercial farmers grow the
crop in large, rowed fields. At the end of the season, they use
APA Citation
● Aguayo, J., & Canavan, R. (2016). What’s
in my peanut butter? EWG.
https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/
whats-my-peanut-butter
● Smuckers. (2024). Natural Creamy Peanut
Butter.
https://www.smuckers.com/peanut-butter/
natural-peanut-butter/natural-creamy-pean
ut-butter
● Admin. (2023). Manufacturing peanut
butter – the in & out - peanut butter.
Peanut Butter -.
https://www.nuflowerfoods.com/blogs/ma
nufacturing-peanut-butter-the-in-out/#:~:t
ext=The%20primary%20ingredient%20in
%20peanut,%2C%20vegetable%20oil%2
C%20and%20emulsifiers
● National Peanut Board. (2023). NPB.
https://nationalpeanutboard.org/sustainabi
lity/
● Post Consumer Brands. (2023). How is
Peanut Butter Made.
https://www.postconsumerbrands.com/ne
ws/how-is-peanut-butter-made/
● Virginia Diner. (2023). VD.
https://www.vadiner.com/how-do-peanuts
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large combines to pull the peanuts from the soil and allow -grow#
them to cure in place. Farmers may move the peanuts for ● Wheeling, K. (2021). A Brief History of
further desiccation inside hot, dry, convective rooms Peanut Butter. Smithsonian Magazine.
(Virginia Diner, 2023). Then, they use a shaker to separate https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovat
the peanuts from the pods. A large amount of peanuts can be ion/brief-history-peanut-butter-18097652
grown on one acre, giving farmers a high yield just from this 5/
one crop (National Peanut Board, 2023). ● 5 lesser-known facts about harvesting
peanuts. 5 Lesser-Known Facts about
Then, the peanuts go through a four step process; roasting, Harvesting Peanuts. (2023).
blanching, grinding, and mixing. Raw peanuts are roasted in https://nationalpeanutboard.org/news/5-th
large ovens at nearly 290 ℉ for up to ten minutes. ings-you-dont-know-about-harvesting-pea
Immediately after, the roasted nuts are cooled quickly to stop nuts/
the baking process at the desired color. A blancher removes
the outer skin of the peanut, typically using a steamer. Then,
they are ground in multiple stages to avoid producing too
much heat and affect the flavor profile (Post Consumer
Brands, 2023). The last step in the process is mixing in
added ingredients to improve the taste and texture of the
butter, like sugar, salt, or preservatives. The product must be
tested for contaminants before it can be packaged
(Nuflowerfoods, 2023). After passing testing, the peanut
butter is packaged and organized for shipment.

Compared to other crops, peanuts are considered an

environmentally friendly crop. They require approximately
3.2 gallons of water to produce one ounce of peanuts
(National Peanut Board, 2023X). When the peanut is
separated from the organic stem of the plant, that matter is
often used as fertilizer for other crops. Additionally, the hull,
its dry shell casing, can be composted. In fact, some
companies are looking into transforming them into biofuel.

Ancillary products Peanut butter is commonly sold in PET (polyethylene
and impacts terephthalate) plastic jars. PET plastic jars are a popular
choice for peanut butter brands because they are light,
flexible, durable, and cheaper to produce (Burch Bottle and
Packaging, 2024). PET plastic is made using components
from crude oil that is extracted via drilling or fracking (Path,
2019). Oil drilling disturbs marine ecosystems, releases
pollutants into the air, and degrades the environment (EIA,
2022). Fracking produces copious wastewater, emits
greenhouse gases, and produces air and noise pollution
(Lin-Schweitzer, 2022).
The synthesis of PET plastic is an energy intensive process.
It takes approximately 3.4 megajoules of energy to produce a
one-liter jar, cap, and labeling. Manufacturing 1 ton of PET
produces nearly 3 tons of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, for
every jar sold, nearly 3 liters of water were used in its
production. Considering other needs, the energy used to fill,
ship out, recover, and recycle a PET bottle is the equivalent
of roughly 1 cup of oil (Pacific Institute, 2013).
In contrast, glass jars are considered a more sustainable
choice. Glass containers are easy to reuse, but they are more
prone to breaking. Since glass is a heavier material, it is
more costly to make and distribute, and also requires more
fossil fuels to truck across the country (Trayak, 2019).
The glass manufacturing process starts as a mix of raw
materials like sand and limestone. They are heated at high
temperatures to melt and mold. Glass products must be
inspected for imperfections before they are able to be
shipped (O.Berk, 2018).
3
● Benyathiar, P., Kumar, P., Carpenter, G.,
Brace, J., & Mishra, D. K. (2022).
Polymers, 14(12), 2366.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article
s/PMC9231234/#:~:text=Mechanical%20
recycling%20is%20a%20conventional,nat
ure%20of%20the%20polymeric%20mater
ial.
● Burch Bottle and Packaging. (2024).
Plastic Jars.
https://www.burchbottle.com/containers/p
lastic-containers/plastic-jars/container-styl
e/Peanut-Butter?page=1
● EIA. (2022). Oil and Petroleum Products
Explained. US Energy Information
Administration.
https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-
and-petroleum-products/oil-and-the-envir
onment.php#:~:text=Exploring%20and%
20drilling%20for%20oil,clearing%20an%
20area%20of%20vegetation.
● Glass for Europe. (n.d.). From sand to flat
glass.
https://glassforeurope.com/from-sand-to-f
lat-glass/#:~:text=The%20 sand%20
deposits%20required%20
by,part%20of%20the%20sand%20supplie
r
● Industrial Quick Search. (n.d.). Industrial
Quick Search. Plastic Container: What Is
It? How Is It Made? Types Of.
https://www.iqsdirectory.com/articles/plas

Glass making is an energy intensive process. On average, the
glass industry consumes nearly 700 million GJ in just one
year (Cantini et al., 2022). Obtaining raw materials for glass
disturbs land and releases pollutants into the air. The quality
of sand needed for glass-making is high grade. These
deposits typically include fossil beaches, rivers, lakes, or
wind deposits (Glass for Europe, n.d.). The sand is extracted
by a sand supplier and then delivered to manufacturing
companies across the country. Since sand is such a heavy
material, it is both financially and environmentally
expensive to transport.
4
tic-container.html#:~:text=The%20most%
20commonly%20used%20material,is%20
polyethylene%20terephthalate%20(PET).
● Let’s make a bottle: Understanding the
glass bottle formation process. Glass,
Plastic, Metal Bottles and Caps Wholesale
- O.Berk®. (2018).
https://www.oberk.com/packaging-crash-c
ourse/glass-bottle-formation#:~:text=All
%20glass%20bottles%20start%20out,desi
red%20properties%20of%20the%20bottle
● Lin-Schweitzer, A. (2022). Integrated
effort needed to mitigate fracking while
protecting both humans and the
environment. Yale School of Public
Health.
https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/integrat
ed-effort-needed-to-mitigate-fracking-whi
le-protecting-both-humans-and-the-enviro
nment/#:~:text=Used%20extensively%20i
n%20the%20U.S.,air%20pollutants%20a
nd%20generates%20noise.
● Pacific Institute. (2013). Bottled water
and energy.
https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/20
13/02/bottled_water_and_energy3.pdf
● Path. (2019). What exactly is PET plastic.
Path.
https://drinkpathwater.com/blogs/news/w
hat-exactly-is-pet-plastic
● Trayakdev. (2019, May 20). Blog: Glass
vs plastic: The facts: Pros and cons.
Trayak.
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https://trayak.com/glass-vs-plastic-the-fac
ts/

Impact of personal Americans consume about 700 million pounds of peanut
use butter per year (Farm Credit, n.d.). That’s approximately 3
pounds of product per person. As mentioned above, it takes
3.2 gallons of water to produce one ounce of peanuts. To
produce one PET plastic jar it takes nearly 3 liters of water.
That’s 48 oz of peanuts x 3.2 gallons + 3 L, or 154.4 gallons
of water to support the average American’s peanut butter
consumption. For reference, that is approximately two
bathtubs full of water just to consume one ounce of peanut
butter per week. And that figure does not include the water
used in drilling and fracking for crude oil to form a plastic
container.
● Farm Credit. (n.d.). That’s nuts.
https://www.farmcreditofvirginias.com/sit
es/default/files/Knowledge%20Center%2
0Assets/Teaching%20Materials/Peanut%2
0Facts.pdf
● Jerry. (2022). How many joules of energy
are in an electric car.
https://getjerry.com/questions/how-many-
joules-of-energy-are-in-an-electric-car

In terms of energy, it takes 3.4 MJ to produce one liter-sized

PET container. That’s 37.4 MJ of energy to produce a year’s
supply of peanut butter jars. This amount of energy is
enough to power an electric car with a 25 kW-hour motor for
almost 42 miles (Jerry, 2022).

Our personal consumption of peanut butter is far lower than

the average consumer, probably about one third of the
amount. That accounts for about 51 gallons of water and 12
MJ of energy in a year. Overall, as interesting as these
figures are, the environmental impacts of peanut butter, just
like any mass produced product, are vast. Not included in
above discussion are effects far more difficult to measure;
the degree of ecological disturbance due to drilling and
fracking, the biodiversity lost through agricultural land
conversion, or the amount of microplastics resulting from

the disposal of plastic jars. Using a holistic approach to this
topic, the footprint of a product as innocuous as peanut
butter is quite bleak.
Disposal of end PET is the most widely recycled plastic in the world.
product However, only 20% of PET material in the US is recycled
(Britannica, 2023). PET plastics can be recycled a few times
before ending up in landfills (Trayak, 2019). PET can be
recycled completely with the condition that containers are
thoroughly separated, washed, and dried before being melted
and reprocessed (Cantini et al., 2022). PET recycling is not
universal in the US because plastics are difficult to collect,
nearly impossible to sort for recycling, environmentally
harmful to reprocess, and noneconomical to recycle (deVise,
2022).
Plastic in landfills takes a long time to decompose. The
plastic then breaks down into microplastics that end up in the
environment. Microplastics can become so fine that they are
transported away from their landfill homes via the air and
leachate. The large specific area of microplastics allows the
particles to absorb pollutants and deliver them into the
environment (Cantini et al., 2022).
Something else to consider to do with jars is reuse them.
They can be used around the house to store other items.
Refill stores are also becoming popular, and the jars can be
refilled with new peanut butter.
How to reduce We do not think it is fair to recommend the average
impacts of product American reduce their peanut butter consumption. Rather,
and its use consumers should look for more environmentally friendly
alternatives of sourcing their product. To start, consumers
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● Cantini, A. Leoni, L., Ferraro, S., De
Carlo, F., Martini, C., Martini, F., Salvio,
M. (2022). Technological Energy
Efficiency Improvements in
Glass-Production Industries and Their
Future Perspectives in Italy. Processes,
10, 2653.
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/10/12/
2653#:~:text=The%20glass%20industry%
20is%20highly,consumption%20of%20a
%20glass%20plant.
● deVise, D. (2022). Why most plastic isn’t
getting recycled. Changing America.
https://thehill.com/changing-america/sust
ainability/environment/3712999-why-mos
t-plastic-isnt-getting-recycled/#:~:text=Gr
eenpeace%20makes%20a%20case%20tha
t,5)%20not%20economical%20to%20rec
ycle.
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should avoid purchasing peanut butter sold in plastic

containers. Zero waste grocery stores are becoming more
popular across the country, allowing customers to provide
their own jars and containers to take home their food
products. If possible, locally grown peanut butters are a good
option that may be available at nearby farmers markets or
small grocery stores.

Of course, consumers finding themselves buying peanut

butter in plastic or glass jars can still reduce their impacts.
For PET plastic jars, users should be thorough and deliberate
in cleaning the container entirely before tossing it in the
recycling. They should also make sure that their recycling
services accept PET plastics. Those who find themselves left
with an empty glass jar have two choices; reuse or recycle.
Similarly, they should make sure the container has been
washed thoroughly before tossing it into glass recycling.