coffee - ECR Community

LCA of Packed Food Products
- the function of flexible packaging - recent sustainability related activities at FPE -
FPE Technical Committee Stresa 2008
Dr. Christian Bauer
EAFA/FPE
Definition
Sustainable Development
• “… development that meets the needs of
the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their
own needs …”
-- Brundtland Commission, 1987
1
What is it about?
• Environmental :
respect for the planet,
wise stewardship
of natural resources, etc.
Social
Economics
The three pillars
of sustainability
•Social :
respect for people,
human rights,
health, safety,
impacts on communities, etc.
Environment
•Economics :
wise use of financial resources,
economic health, etc.
Paradigm and Praxis
Sustainable Development
Paradigm
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle Mgt.
LCA
Society Company
Principles
Tools
Decision Maker
2
“Sustainability” gets urgent
Snow shortage
Overflooding
Heat periods
Hurrican
Forest fires
Tsunami
Sustainability Assessment
This is the „wild west“ in
sustainability assessment - for
products, materials and technologies
More buzz-words:
- eco-efficiency
- resource-efficiency
- eco-innovation
www.planet-wissen.de
3
Simple Messages
simplifications and slogans become attractive:
• …recycling of packaging materials is
good for the environment
• …zero packaging is good
for the environment
• … a reduced „carbon footprint“ is
always best
-> reality is more complex!
Simple Message 1
…recycling of packaging materials is
always good for the environment …
4
Recycling
100%
Additional Savings:
80%
60%
Optimised transportation of:
40%
20%
Æfilled packs
Æpackaging material &
Æconsumed packs
0%
glass
laminated
pouche
beverage
packaging
Simple Message 2
…less packaging is best
for the environment
5
Food Facts
Food wastes become
more relevant all over
Europe
Example UK:
• 6.7mt of food waste
in UK homes each year
• ~20% of the bin weight
• ~15mt CO2 emissions
(embedded energy and
land fill emissions)
WRAP report (UK)
Food Facts
Not only wastes, but also resource inputs
• Example embedded water:
140 liter a day directly
3000 liter indirectly
• Bag of potato crisps, 200g ~ 180 liters
• Glass of wine, 125ml ~ 120 liters
• Glas of beer, 125ml ~ 37,5 liters
6
Packaging & Food
• Appropriate packaging is waste prevention
• Packaging normally does not require more
than 8-10% of the resoucres that are
beeing protected (INCPEN)
• 10% overpackaging means 10% additional
packaging is lost
• 10% underpackaging means 100% are
lost (product and packaging)
Simple Message 3
…a reduced carbon footprint is always best
7
Paradigm and Praxis
Sustainable Development
Paradigm
Life Cycle Thinking
Life Cycle Mgt.
LCA
Society Company
Principles
Tools
Decision Maker
75 g CO2
Source: Rick Hindley, Alupro
8
What is 75 g CO2?
Watching a football match on TV generates 175g CO2 …
Wearing a shirt longer than one day saves 41g CO2 for ironing
and 31g for washing ….
Stand-by function of note book switched off over 4 days is
400g CO2…
Lighting for 3 hours equivalent to 100g CO2…
Buying a bread in a store 3 km away from home in a family
van is 1.2 kg CO2…
FPE Study
LCA of Packed Food Products
- the function of flexible packaging –
-
Project with ESU Services Ltd -
9
Life Cycle Approach
Life Cycle Thinking: Integrating supply chain and downstream activities
(suppliers, customers, consumers, end-of-life)
Raw
materials/
suppliers
Own
Production
Distribution
Customer
and their
customers
Final use
(consumer)
End of
Life
Life Cycle Assessment
• Standardized methodology (ISO 14040)
• Science & evidence based
• Holistic impact assessment
• Appropriate for hot spot analyses and
comparative assertions
10
Aims of the Study
• Investigate the environmental performance of flexible packaging
with respect to its function within the life cycle of goods, i.e., within
the supply chain of goods and the consumption of goods.
• Investigate the role of flexible packaging with respect to resource
efficiency and prevention of spoilage of packed goods.
• Investigate the environmental relevance of stages and
interdependencies within the life cycle of goods while taking
consumers’ patterns and portion sizes into consideration.
• Identify achieved improvements regarding the environmental
performance of flexible packaging of a given good (such as down
gauging or light weighting).
• Bring results of the study in context of sustainable development
(reasons why the focus is on environmental aspects and that social
and economic aspects would be needed for a sustainability
assessment).
Cases
•
•
•
Ground and instant coffee in pouches
and stick-packs made of plastic laminate
with an aluminium foil layer as a barrier
Frozen spinach leaves in a monoplastic bag
A family and single portion pack of
butter wrapped in a laminate with an
aluminium foil layer
11
Coffee - Scope
The Cup of Coffee Case
• Coffee roasted in a roaster with emission control
• Brewing the coffee or heating the water using a coffee
machine
• Normal user behaviour concerning coffee machine
switch off
• Pouch and stick-pack with PET and alufoil layer
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Example: GHG-Emissions
kg CO2-equ.
per cup of coffee
Cupofofcoffee
coffeefrom
from
Cup
500ggbag
bag(PET12/alu7/PE100)
(PET12/alu7/PE100)
500
0.16
Cupofofcoffee
coffeefrom
from
Cup
stick(PET12/alu7/PE55)
(PET12/alu7/PE55)
22ggstick
Coffee Supply System (MJ/cup of coffee)
Milk
Hotwater (Brewing)
0.12
Transport (Roastery to
household)
Retail Packaging
0.08
Coffee Production
0.04
0
Espresso Black
White
Instant
Black
Instant
White
Preliminary results, mainly based on study of ESU-services
Scenarios
Scenario
Brewing behaviour
Brewing device
Spoilage
Packaging disposal
Grocery shopping
Adding up: Best case
Standard case
Normal
Coffee Machine
No leftovers
Incineration
Average distances
As above
Adding up: worst case
As above
Scenario
Economic resp. Negligent
Kettle
33 % Spoilage
Landfill
Urban resp. countryside scenario
Economic user behaviour, Kettle, no
spoilage, packaging is incinerated,
urban grocery shopping scenario
Negligent user behaviour, coffee
machine, spoilage, packaging is
landfilled, countryside grocery
shopping scenario
relevance of user behaviour
13
Scenarios (cont’d)
kg CO2-equ.
per cup of coffee
0.12
Black Instant Coffee
Cup of coffee from
2 g stick (PET12/alu7/PE55)
Hotwater (Brewing)
Transport (Roastery to
household)
Retail Packaging
0.08
Coffee Production
0.04
0
Base
scenario
Economic
behaviour
Preliminary results, mainly based on study of ESU-services
Conclusions – coffee
• The contribution of packaging in the food supply system with
respect to CO2 and other impacts is relatively low
• Production of coffee - as a highly processed good - has a
relatively high share
• Portioned packaging (coffee stick) has a relatively higher share than
family packs. However, they may contribute to the prevention of
spoilage, thus even saving “overall” resources.
• Boiling of water considerably influences the performance of the
supply chain
• Change of consumer behaviour can contribute to reduce the
overall impact of the coffee supply chain.
The results depend on the specific filling good and the specific packaging system.
The contribution towards environmental impacts of the packaging in the supply chain depends on the process intensity of the food.
14
Pot of Spinach
Scope
• Average production of deep frozen spinach
• LLDPE-Packaging
• Refrigerated storage and transportation at minus
18°C
• Domestic storage for 180 days in a B-class
freezer
• Cooking spinach for 10 minutes with an electric
stove
Results are specific for the specific filling good and the specific packaging system; they must not be generalized.
Spinach – GHG-Emissions
kg CO2-equ.
per pot of
spinach
5
Pot of spinach
Cooking
4
Storage at household
Transport (supermarket to
household)
Distribution and selling
3
Packaging
2
Frozen Spinach production
1
0
Base
Scenario
Advanced
freezer
Old
Freezer
Cooking
with gas
15
Spinach - Eutrophication
Pot of spinach
100%
Relative Contribution of:
80%
Cooking
Storage at household
60%
40%
Transport (supermarket to
household)
Distribution and selling
Packaging
Frozen Spinach production
20%
0%
Conclusions - Spinach
• Storage in freezer at household very important;
using advanced technology reduces impacts
• The contribution of the packaging in the food supply
system with respect to CO2 and other impacts is
relatively low
• Production of spinach relatively low for global warming
effect (low processed food)
• The storage time in the freezer is an important criteria
• The performance of the freezer shows effect on the
entire performance of the food supply system
The results depend on the specific filling good and the specific packaging system.
The contribution towards environmental impacts of the packaging in the supply chain depends on the process intensity of the food.
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Integrated approach –
Butter
• Wrap (Al/wax/paper) for 250 g and 15 g
• Functional unit is one kg butter ready for
home consumption
Results are specific for the specific filling good and the specific packaging system; they must not be generalized.
Butter supply system –
CO2 equivalents
kg CO2-equ.
per kg butter
250ggwrap
wrap
250
15ggwrap
wrap
15
25
20
Storage at household
Transport (supermarket to household)
15
Distribution and Selling
Retail Packaging
10
Butter production
5
0
Packaging share:
0.3 %
0.7 %
Preliminary results, mainly based on study of ESU-services
17
Conclusions - Butter
• Butter is a highly processed product
• Contribution of packaging is very low
• Packaging of butter is important to protect
and preserve resources
• most relevant factors for the environment
are: butter production and spoilage
(especially leftovers)
Results are specific for the specific filling good and the specific packaging system; they must not be generalized.
Conclusions (LCA)
• Life Cycle Assessment is good tool to get a better
understanding of a product’s environmental
performance; however, it refers only to the
environmental part of sustainability
• An integrated approach gives a better insight in the
supply system of goods; also allowing statements
regarding the role of the consumer
-> investigate more products
-> focus on food waste
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Swiss Chocolate
Status:
final draft expected
for exec. summary
DRAFT
Chocolate - Draft
100%
Transport
(supermarket to
household)
T
F
A
R
D
Distribution and
selling
80%
Retail packaging
60%
Chocolate
production
40%
20%
0%
CED non-renewable
Global Warming
(GWP100)
Ozone Layer Depletion
(ODP)
Acidification
Eutrophication
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More LCAs
• Yoghurt with Aluminium lidding (180gr and
500gr) (GDA,EAFA)
• Laminated Tubes
Filling to be specified (ETMA, FPE)
Food Wastage
And
Packaging
International Packaging Institute
Neuhausen, Switzerland
“who is wasting which amounts of food
why when and where ?”
40
DRAFT
20
Key Facts
• Total amount of food produced in Europe - 622 million tonnes/year
• Food waste in Europe is estimated to 245 million tonnes/year
• 71 million tonnes of food waste is thrown away by the households
• Food waste is costly
- Europe as a whole pays for but does not eat €90 billion of good food/year
-That’s about €500 of avoidable food waste for the average household/year
• Food waste impacts the environment - even assuming 50% could have been
eaten, “avoidable” food waste equates to:
- At least 157 mt CO2 equivalents (mostly due to embedded energy)
- Plus methane emissions from landfill
- The CO2 emission equals1 in 5 cars on the roads
Source : Awarenet handbook 2007, confirmed by WTO numbers
DRAFT
Conclusion
(1) Packaging = prevention of (food) waste
(2) Flexible packaging =
resource efficient prevention of food waste
(3) Flexible packaging saves more resources
than it consumes – Even more packaging may
be justified in view of saving food resources
along the supply chain if spoilage or
overconsumption can be reduced
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Studies & Positions
FPE website with dedicated section on
“Sustainability”:
2nd EAFA / FPE Sustainability
Workshop
- Sustainability in B2B Communication • 4th November 2008, 10:00 – 17:00, Maritim Hotel, Düsseldorf
Airport
• Coffee reception
• 10:20
Welcome and introduction
Stefan Glimm, EAFA/FPE
• 10:30
Overview of EAFA/FPE’s Sustainability Activities
Christian Bauer, EAFA/FPE
• 11:00
Sustainability Strategies from a Brand Owner's
Perspective
Mark Rhodes, GlaxoSmithKline Nutritional Healthcare
• 12:00
Product Carbon Footprint Pilot Project Germany
Rasmus Priess, Thema1
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2nd EAFA / FPE Sustainability
Workshop
- Sustainability in B2B Communication (Cont’d) • 14:00
Tailoring Sustainability Messages – EAFA’s
Sustainability Communication Tools
Guido Winsel, EAFA
• 14:45
Challenges and Opportunities Concerning
Sustainability in B2B Communication
Breakout groups with moderation
• 16:00
Coffee break
• 16:30
Upcoming Sustainability Issues and EAFA/FPE’s
Activities
Stefan Glimm, EAFA/FPE
• 17:00 Closing
Additional Information:
Christian Bauer
[email protected]
www.flexpack–europe.org
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