The amount of municipal waste related to food packaging systems, with respect to the whole mass of municipal waste, is ever increasing. For this reason, a selection of different packaging systems has to be made from the start of production not only to favour food conservation, but also to reduce packaging mass and increase the use of recyclables. This paper presents a comparison between impacts associated with alternative packaging systems on the supply of coffee, with the aim of showing how their values change depending on the materials and processes commonly in use. To compare impacts, Life Cycle Assessment methodology was considered. This approach, which is widespread use in many different production sectors, is defined in detail in the ISO 1404x norm. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.