Aspartame and the Environment
Choosing foods and drinks with aspartame is not only beneficial for your
health, but also has significant advantages for the environment.
To make the sugar that we eat, the raw materials, including sugar beet, sugar
cane and corn starch, are harvested and shipped for refining. The refining
process entails extracting the sugar from the crop by crushing, chopping or
grinding and treatment with water. High fructose corn syrup undergoes an
additional step in which the atoms within the molecules are re-arranged. The
raw sugars then undergo further processing, depending on the final use that is
required.
Aspartame is made using a fermentation process to produce amino acids from a
feedstock of molasses (a thick syrup from sugar cane or beet), soy and corn.
The amino acids are then combined to form aspartame crystals. These crystals
are purified and converted into finished aspartame.
Less Bulk
Aspartame is almost 200 times sweeter than sugar, which means that much less
is required to sweeten foods and drinks. As a result:
- Less packaging is needed
- Emissions from manufacture and transportation are reduced
- Natural resources are conserved
- The carbon footprint is reduced
- Less space is required for storage
Less Bulk
Less Fertiliser and Pesticide
Less Water
Less Land
Easier Storage
Less Fertiliser and Pesticide
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The agrochemical consumption associated with aspartame is between 0.4 and 1%
of that stemming from sugar. It is 0.4% when compared to sugar from cane, 0.9%
when compared to high fructose corn syrup, and 1% when compared to sugar from
beet.
The table below shows how many pounds (lb) of agrochemicals are used to
produce the amount of sweetness equivalent to that in 100,000lb of sugar:
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Less Bulk
Less Fertiliser and Pesticide
Less Water
Less Land
Easier Storage
Less Water
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The amount of water used to produce aspartame is less then 2% of that used in
the production of sugar. The following tables show water consumption in
aspartame production as a percentage of that used for other sources of
sweetness, and the amount of water used (in millions of gallons) to make the
amount of sweetness equivalent to that in 100,000lb of sugar:
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Less Bulk
Less Fertiliser and Pesticide
Less Water
Less Land
Easier Storage
Less Land
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Much lower amounts of arable land are required to produce aspartame, meaning
that the average productivity of the land is greatly increased.
The farming of sugar impacts more heavily on the land, with topsoil being
lifted with the crop during harvest. This causes extra carbon emissions during
manufacture as it adds to weight during transportation and uses further
resources during cleaning.
Aspartame can satisfy the demand for sweetness using much less land and
causing much less soil erosion.
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Less Bulk
Less Fertiliser and Pesticide
Less Water
Less Land
Easier Storage
Easier Storage
Aspartame has a longer storage life than sugar, which means that it's less
prone to degradation and that wastage is decreased.
It is also much less prone to vermin, with reduced need for vermin control,
lessening the inputs from another manufacturing process.
Similarly, no temperature controlled storage facilities are required for
aspartame, unlike some sweetener systems, so energy consumption is reduced.
Less Bulk
Less Fertiliser and Pesticide
Less Water
Less Land
Easier Storage
