Environmental Impact of Chocolate Bars Production - Case Study Example

Running header: Environmental impact of chocolate bars production Student’s name: Instructor’s name: Subject code: Date of submission: Introduction Chocolate bars have become an integral part of our festivities, holidays and similar celebrations with many reasons being fronted for wanting to have more and more chocolate. Chocolate bars are liked for their being delicious, undeniably fun and festive hence their increasing consumption on a daily basis. What many people fail to understand is that chocolate bars are also blamed for many environmental issues. We base our decisions to buy and consume chocolate bars purely on taste, quality, price and brand names. However, we never stop and consider the environmental impacts that chocolate bars have. Environmental impacts should be important considerations made by anyone consuming chocolate. It is vital that we be informed and hence understands the tradeoffs arising from our decisions to consume chocolate bars so that we can act accordingly and with the right conscience. Before chocolate bars can be availed to customers to consume by retailers, they undergo a complete lifecycle encompassing a whole food supply chain system which starts from the farms where cocoa and other ingredients including palm oil, sugar and milk are produced. The raw materials are transported mainly from tropical regions to Europe and America using ship and are then processed into chocolate bars among other products. The chocolate bars are then packaged in Aluminium foils and paper before being transported to retailers across the world from where consumers buy them for household consumption. The entire lifecycle of chocolate bar production has some harmful environmental impacts that consumers rarely consider when buying it. This paper looks at the environmental impacts of production of chocolate bars. Literature review Great effort has gone into researching on the environmental impacts associated with the production of various goods and services. Becket (2009) states that chocolate bars are not correctly priced despite the fact that we love them. He argues that in order for them to be correctly priced, their full impact on the environment ought to be considered. On the other hand, Bolenz (2005) states that owing to the increasing demand of cocoa, farmers opt to use unsustainable and less environmentally conscious practices in a bid to meet the demand. These techniques have entailed the use of the scorched earth policy where land is burnt before cultivation as well as use of the wrong quality and quantity of fertilizers and chemicals as stated by Bryan (2009). This according as has been revealed in the work of Capenter (2010) has led to degrading of the soil as well as massive deforestation. In his work, Castanheira states that such deforestation has led to decreased biodiversity with many world habitats being destroyed. Eskes (2011) states that the entire cycle of chocolate production has negative effects. He states that since the biggest portion of cocoa is shipped overseas for factory production of chocolate, shipping negatively affects both the marine life and the environment through oil spills and harmful emissions that pollute the air as well as the Ozone layer. The same sentiments are shared by Ronald who states that the entire process of factory production and transporting the finished goods to the market results in similar harmful impacts to the environment. Effect of poor farming methods on the environment Most of the times, the chocolate bar ingredients such as cocoa are cultivated by peasant farmers in Africa and parts of America. They therefore lack the necessary resources and skills required for production. The effect of this is the application of poor farming methods which have harmful effects to the environment. Based on the findings of UNDP (2008), poor farming practices applied in cocoa farming are to blame for cultivation of forest lands which in turn give rise to deforestation as well as the general degradation of the environment. As a result of application of poor farming methods, the lands are immediately characterized by declining productivity which is blamed for being the main cause of migration by farmers in such areas as Ivory Coast. Such poor farming methods may include farmers being unable to apply adequate pesticides and fertilizers which may result from either lack of resources of monetary nature or lack of the requisite knowledge thus hindering sustainable production. Failing to use such inputs as fertilizers and pesticides always contribute to diseases as well as insect infestation which results in declined productivity. This in turn causes increased land expansion which causes deforestation in the name of searching for greater production. The World Bank’s restructuring policies have also been blamed for increased prices of inputs thus reducing the use of pesticides by farmers with research indicating that a significant number of farmers do not use pesticides in cocoa production. On the other hand, it is only a few farmers who have access to fertilizers with only 14% of farmers accessing fertilizer in Ivory Coast for instance. This is worsened by lack of fertilizer subsidization that could result in reduced production costs while increasing utilization. Failing to optimally spray during periods of disease and insect infestation eventually leads to reduced production in substantial amounts. Thus, such bad production practices are also to largely blame for increased environmental degradation in the producing countries. Chocolate production results in deforestation and biodiversity loss The demand for chocolate bars is always on the increase thus resulting in increased demand for cocoa as well as the other chocolate bar ingredients. In response to the increased demand, the cocoa producing countries are increasingly putting more of their land into cocoa production. For instance, Ould et al (2004) puts the annual deforestation rate in Ivory Coast at 7.6% of the closed forest area since the year 1994. This deforestation is largely attributed to the production of cocoa that occurs in both tropical and non-tropical rain forests. Cultivation of new forests is preferred since the forests have fertile soils that are less exposed to pests as well as diseases. Such forests are also said to be highly profitable when compared to established farms. Thus, when the established farms decline after a long time production, farmers always move to newer forests thus resulting in more deforestation. It is also worth noting that in West Africa alone, the annual increase in cocoa production is 1.7 million tons. This increase results in estimated increase of 2.3 million hectares of land which increases the problem of deforestation according to Gockowski and Sonwa (2007). It is obvious that if such effects were to be considered for the entire world where cocoa and other chocolate bars ingredients are produced, the results would be devastating. In some countries however, there has been a ban on forest expansion in an attempt to deal with the problem of deforestation. It is worth noting that the production of cocoa also occurs on cleared forest land monoculture. However, it is worth noting that small holder farmers usually practice it in thinned forests and also intercrop it with coffee, oil palm as well as other food crops. The implication of this is that coffee is therefore a major factor that contributes to deforestation in the cocoa producing countries among other similar forest crops. Other crops such as palm which is also an ingredient of chocolate bars and which occur in industrialized plantations are also to blame for increased deforestation in the producing countries. The production of chocolate bars is therefore to blame to a great extent for deforestations in the countries where its ingredients are produced in large scale as stated by Behnin and Barbier (2004) One effect of increased deforestation is loss of diversity. Deforestation results in ecosystem damage which results from the loss in diversity. Loss of diversity is a major environmental concern for countries that grow cocoa. A balanced ecosystem is characterized by big quantities of healthy and diverse native fauna and flora. Diversity loss that results from clearing of original vegetation including forests as well as losses occasioned by use of pesticides obviously results in loss of diversity and ecosystem imbalance. In addition, deforestation also results increased carbon in the atmosphere which in turn results in the adverse effects of climate change. Many areas of where cocoa is produced and which were considered biodiversity hotspots are now increasingly under the threat of deforestation. Such areas include the West African cocoa producing nations as well as the American ones. For example in the west African nations, the Guinea forest, Tai national park as well as other tropical rain forests have all been negatively affected by deforestation resulting from cocoa production. Based on the findings of Chris Bright who is a senior researcher at World Watch, some 70,000 square kilometers of what was once tropical rain forest are now under cocoa production. This has resulted in the destruction of some twenty five biodiversity hotspots that were ones under conservation (Anonymous, 2002). In some countries, some farming practices are even more harmful. For instance, the Slash and burn method which is the main forest clearing method used in such areas as Ivory Coast pose a great threat to biodiversity. It is no wonder then that the Western Guinea forest today is viewed as a major global conservation priority. On the other hand, Tai National park found in Ivory coast is today the highest priority tropical forest area in Africa as far as conservation is concerned. This is because it is the last refuge for keystone species including forest elephants as well as the pygmy hippopotamus all their previous refuge having been destroyed through deforestation occasioned by cocoa production. Though Cocoa production farms have been seen as having a high capacity for biodiversity conservation more than the rest of anthropogenic land use systems according to Gockowski and Sonwa (2007 it is no doubt that human interference with forests in the name of cocoa production has greatly resulted in biodiversity destruction. As a result of deforestation also, there has been increased atmospheric carbon. Atmospheric carbon is a primary gas that contributes to global warming. This implies that deforestation in the cocoa producing regions of the world in no doubt results in regional climate changes. As such, such countries ought to consider reforestation which has been credited with adding 10-30% carbon increase in the atmosphere. Cocoa being a major ingredients of chocolate bars production, it could justifiably be concluded that chocolate bars production lifecycle greatly contributes to deforestation and hence biodiversity loss which is a harmful environmental impact. The impact of the use of fertilizers and pesticide on the environment It is worth noting that Cocoa being the major ingredients of Chocolate bars is mainly grown by small scale farmers mainly in low intensity and low input agricultural systems of Africa and some parts of America. For this reason, the farmers reportedly have always minimally used fertilizers and pesticides in cocoa cultivation mainly owing to lack of access as well as the high costs associated in securing the inputs especially in such countries as Ivory Coast and Ghana. However, the impact of application of fertilizers and pesticides is not to be overlooked since their application usually results in various toxicities. Various studies have been conducted in a bid to unearth the effects of fertilizer and pesticide use on Cocoa. A study by Afrane and Ntiamoh (2008) on the environmental impacts of cocoa’s lifecycle on a kilogram of cocoa revealed the highest impact to be on freshwater aquatic eco-toxicity as well as human toxicity as a result of cocoa bean production. The major effects of use of the fertilizers and pesticides were noted to be acidification resulting from reaction of the chemicals with the environment, eutrophication potential, increase in global warming, and the depletion of the Ozone layer as well as photochemical ozone creation. Other impacts were noted as terrestrial Eco toxicity potential. The toxicities associated with the pesticides and fertilizers result from heavy metals as well as carcinogens that harm organisms and thus result in ecosystem imbalance. It may be argued that the standards of the pesticides and fertilizers used in cocoa production are set by both world health organization and the UN food and agriculture organization and hence they are safe (Leibenluft, 2016). While this may be true, the cocoa producing countries do not always adhere to these specifications implying that application of the fertilizers and pesticides continue to pose major threat to the environment. For instance, in 2000, Ghana started a widespread spraying campaign aimed at eliminating the black pod disease. This saw cocoa production rise double fold from 380,000 metric tons to 736,000 metric tons between 2001 and 2004. However, the fertilizers and pesticides were calculated to exceed the WHO and FAO specifications for the increased production. This means that the application of fertilizers and pesticides in cocoa production results in harmful environmental impacts that not only affect human beings but which also result in ecosystem imbalance. As stated by Ntiamoh (2008), cocoa production has a significant contribution to the environmental impacts of eutrophication, depletion of Ozone layer, freshwater aquatic eco toxicity, terrestrial eco toxicity and human toxicity. The production and use of pesticides and fertilizers has been found to be a major cause of environmental impact during the production stage of cocoa. Ozone layer depletion also results from emissions of halogens as well as CFCs as the pesticides are produced. Eutrophication results from leakage of nutrients as cocoa is cultivated as well as phosphate emissions as phosphorus fertilizers are produced. The three categories of toxicity are mainly contributed by the heavy metals contained in phosphate fertilizers as well as insecticide leakages. Environmental effects of transporting raw materials to chocolate bar production factories It is worth noting that most chocolate bar producing factories do not have raw materials of their own. In other words, the producers of such raw materials as cocoa and palm oil and sugar are not necessarily the producers of chocolate bars. For instance, Ghana is world’s second largest producer of cocoa. Yet most of its production is exported to such countries as the US where it is used in the production of chocolate bars (The wall street journal, 2016). The main method of transporting the raw materials to the factories abroad is shipping. In other words, ship transport is part and parcel of chocolate bars production cycle. It has been argued that shipping of goods /maritime transport is a relatively clean form of transport for every kilogram of material transported. However, given the amount of raw materials that have to be shipped every year as well as the amount of chocolate bars that have to be shipped as exports to other countries, the environmental degradation resulting from chocolate bar production cycle could be massive. It is worth noting that ship transport has been blamed for such environmental impacts as oil pollution, acoustic and greenhouse gas emissions. Based on the international maritime organization’s estimates, over 2.2% of global carbon dioxide emissions result from shipping. These levels are expected to rise significantly in future with the chocolate bars production cycle contributing significantly to these levels. Shipping of the raw materials as well as the chocolate bars has significant negative impact on the marine environment where the ships pass. It is worth noting that the ships carry large amount of ballast water taken on in the coastal waters in a region as they unload cargo and discharge waste water and discharge the water at the next port as they load more cargo. Such ballast water usually contains such biological materials as viruses, bacteria, animals and plants. They also include non-native, invasive species likely to cause extensive ecological damage to the existing marine ecosystems (Haynes et al, 2012). Shipping also results in massive sound pollution through the noise caused by ships. Such noises travel over long distances thereby harming the marine species that rely on sound for their life at sea thus further negatively affecting marine life. Shipping also results in marine wildlife collisions. In other words, marine mammals such as whales are faced with risk of colliding with ship which may cause death or injuries. Shipping of the raw materials as well as the chocolate bars also results in massive atmospheric pollution. The exhaust gases emitted by ships are a great source of air pollution. It is worth noting that more than 15% of global anthropogenic NOx as well as 8% of global SOx emissions result from ocean going ships. Thus, it can be said that shipping of raw materials and the chocolate bars contributes a significant part of this. Shipping of the raw materials as well as the chocolate bars is also a significant contributor of conventional pollutants. The ships diesel engine generates air pollution trough burning sulfur content fuel oil. This produces SOx and NOx as well as particulate. This also results in carbon monoxide and carbon monoxide as well as hydrocarbons. Such diesel effluents have been blamed for ambient concentration of particulate matter as well as visibility. It is also blamed for acidic deposition, eutrophication, haze and nitrification of water. Sulphur on the other hand is to blame for acid rains which damage crops and buildings. Sulphur also results in respiratory problems as well as increased risks of heart attacks when inhaled. Shipping of the raw materials as well as the chocolate bars has also been associated with contributing to greenhouse gas pollutants (Rockmann, 2016). It is worth noting that shipping contributes around 4% of all climate change emissions through carbon dioxide. Other environmental impacts of shipping products are oil spills. Thus, it could be concluded that though data does not exist on the effect of shipping chocolate raw materials and chocolate bars on the environment, their shipping in no doubt has a significant contribution to environmental degradation as well as global warming. Environmental effect of industrial production of chocolate bars Industrial production of chocolate bars is the next part of the chocolate bars production cycle which also has some negative effects to the environment. Industrial production of chocolate bars is hailed for contributing to economic growth and hence developing the society. However, it is also criticized for contributing to environmental degradation with such harmful effects as climate change, air pollution, water as well as soil pollution, extinction of species among other harmful environmental impacts. Such environmental impacts have a far reaching effect being able to affect the ecosystems for very many years. It is worth noting that industrial production of chocolate bars requires a lot of water (Ingram, 2015). Chocolate bars production involve a number of processes with water coming out as a waste mixture. Industries will usually dump the waste water in rivers or oceans or even in the soil. This results in the affected water sources having high amounts of industrial waste thus seriously affecting the ecosystem. Where the waste water is disposed underground, this affects underground water which makes it contaminated. It is however worth noting that such water could be treated before it is disposed. Disposing such industrial wastes on the soil also causes soil pollution. It is worth noting that some of the industrial wastes are metallic and hence they destroy useful soil bacteria and other soil microorganisms thus negatively affecting the soil. The chocolate bar producing industries also make use of energy from such sources as coal , diesel and other form of fossil fuels. When burnt, such fuels or energy sources produce harmful gases such as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Such gases are released into the atmosphere. When they react with the atmosphere, the result is acidic rains as well as other harmful effects to the environment with their effects being felt throughout the ecosystem as they affect both plants and animal health. Such rains also contribute to soil degradation. It is also worth noting that from cocoa beans to chocolate bars, the industrial process generates a lot of solid waste including industrial waste, dry waste as well as organic waste. For example, the coca generation stage gives rise to a large amount of solid wastes which are in the form of pod husks. Pond husk is composed of about two thirds of fresh pod weight (Ivanova and Hertwich, 2015). Most cocoa producing industries find pod husks a serious disposal issue. Such waste has been blamed as a major source of disease especially in case farmers decide to reuse it as mulch in their farms. Another waste generated in the cocoa production process is sweatings. In other words, cocoa seeds have a surrounding of an aromatic pulp arising from the seed teguments. During the process of on-firm cocoa beans production, this pulp is removed through fermentation and hydrolyzed by microorganisms to a hydrolyzed pulp known as sweatings in the ratio of 40 liters for every 800 kgs of wet beans. Such sweatings are allowed to drain off as waste in the farms. As stated above, such wastes have been blamed for causing diseases. It is however worth noting that research continues to find proper usage of pod husks as well as sweatings. However, before this has been successfully found out, it remains a disposal headache to both farmers and the processing factories. Another environmental effect of industrial production of chocolate bars is global warming. This is because it results in industrial pollution which has contributed to the increase in global warming at an alarming rate. The smoke and greenhouse gases produced by these industries are released by the industries into the atmosphere on a daily basis hence resulting to increase in global warming which has had adverse effect on the global environment. Environmental effects of chocolate bars packaging After their industrial production, chocolate bars are packaged in Aluminium foils as well as papers before they are distributed to various markets across the world. T such packaging consumes a lot of energy as well as other natural resources in producing. When such packaging is thrown away by consumers all over te world and in most cases just after one use, such natural resources as well as energy are lost. Packaging thus becomes a major environmental problem since when thrown away; it pollutes the air, soil and water. Research indicates that 1.9 million tons of packaging waste will produce the same amount of greenhouse gases as is produced by 860,000 cars. Obviously a big chunk of this could be from chocolate bars packaging. The packaging waste also produces litter that ends up in many places that it is not supposed to. Such waste as the Aluminium foils and papers would then block storm water drains and also cause major problems for the wildlife. Such waste also ends up in rivers, streams and also the ocean. This means that marine life is also affected (Liberty and Echiegu, 2015). It may be argued that recycling should be adopted to manage packaging waste. In fact, the use of Aluminium foils is considered better than many other forms of packaging due to its recyclability. After recycling, some of the energy used in creating the packaging is recovered hence reducing greenhouse gas. However, it is obvious that most of the chocolate bars packaging is not recycled but it ends up littering the streets in various countries. In addition, not all the energy that is consumed in making the packaging is recovered through recycling. Thus, it is fair to conclude that packaging as part of chocolate bars production cycle contributes greatly to environmental degradation. Conclusion This paper has explain that despite the much that we like chocolate bars and hence the high demand it attracts, its production and sale in no doubt has some impact on the environment that are not desirable. It has been shown that the increased demand for the chocolate bars and hence cocoa has led to increased cultivation of cocoa. The increased cultivation of cocoa has been shown to result in deforestation as well as soil erosion. Furthermore, the use of inadequate farming methods as well as fertilizers and pesticides in no doubt leads to declining land value. In addition to deforestation, inadequate farming methods and use of fertilizers and pesticides in growing such raw materials as cocoa has resulted in loss of diversity and hence ecosystem imbalance. The transport of the raw materials to the production factories as well as the manufactured chocolate bars to the markets has been shown to disturb the marine ecosystem. In addition, harmful gases from the factories and the ships have also been shown to lead to effect of global warming as well as climate change. The marine animals have also not been spared. Packaging of the chocolate bars with Aluminium foils and papers has also been shown to result in environmental degradation. As such, the paper concludes that the entire cycle of chocolate bars production is harmful to the environment based on the explained impacts. As such, it is hoped that the manufacturers of such products will come up with better methods of production and manufacture that are able to better deal with the issue of environmental pollution. This way, we can continue enjoying chocolate bars while protecting our environment from degradation at the same time. References Ntiamoh, A&, Afrane, G2007, Environmental impacts of cocoa production and processing in Ghana: Life cycle assessment approach, Journal of cleaner production, vol. 16, pp. 1735- 1740. Becket, S2009, Industrial Chocolate manufacture and use, UK, John Wiley and Sons. Omicsgroup.org, 2016, Cocoa bean, Retrieved on 11th March 2016, from; http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/Cocoa_bean Ivanova, D&, Hertwich, E2015, Environmental impact assessment of household consumption, Journal of Industrial Ecology. Bolenz, S2005, New concept for fast continuous conching, European Food Research and Technology, vol. 220, vol. 1, pp. 47-54. 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