2008 Sustainable Packaging Alliance Lca Wine Industy Forum
1. Sustainable Packaging Alliance
Towards Packaging Sustainability
Wine Industry forum
August 7 2008
Glenn Di-Mauro Hayes
RMIT – Centre for Design
SPA is supported by:
2. The Sustainable Packaging Alliance
• Informal arrangement since 2002
- RMIT Centre for design
- Birubi Innovation
- VU Packaging & Polymer research unit
• Not for profit company established Nov 07
- Provider and developer of PIQET
- Capabilities provided through contracts
• Focal point to facilitate continuous improvement in
packaging sustainability
• www.sustainablepack.org
Towards Packaging Sustainability
3. The Sustainable Packaging Alliance
CREATE STRATEGY
the Vision for Change
Technology
Research, Technical &
Transfer
Development & Innovation Impact
Demonstration
Innovation Support
Education
BUILD Continuous
Develop &
Capability & Improvement in
Design
FACILITATE Packaging
TOOLS
Innovation
Sustainability
Towards Packaging Sustainability
4. The Centre for Design provides
research, services and
products to help achieve
positive design for
sustainability outcomes.
www.cfd.rmit.edu.au
4 main project areas:
•Sustainable Built Environments
•Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
•Sustainable Products and Packaging
•Climate change and social context
CfD activities:
Sustainability/Eco-design decision support
Research & product development
Training & professional development
Publications & tools
Life cycle assessments
Social context, change, behaviour, evaluation
Towards Packaging Sustainability
5. CfD Objectives
• Conduct new research into design and social context for
ecologically sustainable outcomes
• Develop and demonstrate new design strategies, decision support
tools and processes aimed at improving the environmental
performance of products, built environments and services
• Assist industry to design and use greener products, buildings and
services and to develop more strategic environmental directions
• Advise government agencies on policy and programs to reduce
environmental impacts through design
• Explore new concepts, scenarios, actions, strategies and policies
for a sustainable future; and
• Maintain a national and international network of research and
information exchange in environmental assessment and design.
Towards Packaging Sustainability
6. Various deliverables 2002-7
– Consulting reports for various clients
– 25 Peer-reviewed conference papers
– 19 Peer-reviewed journal articles
– 16 Books and chapters
– 43 other scholarly works and significant
research reports
– 5 PhD scholarships
Towards Packaging Sustainability
7. Sustainability issues
• Fluctuation in product demand
• Cost/availability of raw materials (flow on
effect to customers)
• Changes in climate/water
• Mandatory regulations or changes to
• Packaging availability, pricing & substitution
Towards Packaging Sustainability
8. Sustainable practices
• Alternative energy sources (eg. solar)
• Cover crops/green manure crops
• The right time to harvest
• Recycled bottles & eco-friendly inks
• Pulp instead of styrofoam shippers
Towards Packaging Sustainability
9. Important….
• There is far more environmental
impact in the product than the
packaging
• The quality of the product is
paramount
Towards Packaging Sustainability
11. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)
For each step in the life cycle (unit process)
Emissions to air
Raw materials
Products
Fuels
By-products
Energy
Waste
Emissions to water/soil
Towards Packaging Sustainability
12. Life Cycle Inventory (LCI)
For each step in the life cycle (unit process)
Emissions to air (tonnes)
Suppliers Customers
Transport
Raw materials (tonnes) Transport
Products (tonnes)
Fuels (tonnes + GJ)
By-products (tonnes)
Energy (GJ)
Waste treatment
Waste (tonnes) Transport
Emissions to water/soil (tonnes)
Towards Packaging Sustainability
13. Benefits of LCA
• The largest benefit of undertaking any LCA is
ultimately revealing what is behind the product.
• Life cycle thinking is the only rational approach
for evaluating environmental decisions –
including only parts of the product system risks
shifting problems rather than solving them
Towards Packaging Sustainability
14. Drivers for life cycle thinking
• Increasing environmental awareness
• To consume less and be more efficient with resources
• To reduce pollution (emissions and waste)
• To move beyond compliance and to innovate
• A tool to help is life cycle assessment (LCA)
• A tool to help streamline the process and give clear
outcomes is…
Towards Packaging Sustainability
16. What is PIQET?
Rapid tool for environmental impact assessment of
packaging systems
Business ready
Internationally accepted Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) methodologies
Easy to use
Packaging specific
Towards Packaging Sustainability
17. Development of PIQET
• Commenced in October 2004,
• Excel version 2006, Web version 2007
• Developed by the Sustainable Packaging Alliance
(www.sustainablepack.org)
– Centre for Design, RMIT University
– Birubi Innovation
– Packaging and Polymer Research Unit, Victoria
University
• Web programming by WSP Environmental
Towards Packaging Sustainability
18. Development of PIQET
• Company sponsors
• Government grants
Towards Packaging Sustainability
19. Business ready
Idea generation
Web-accessed Idea screening
Integrates into existing NPD and
Concept development
Packaging Design processes & testing
15-30 minute turnaround
Business analysis
Simple reports
Beta testing &
marketing testing
Technical implementation
Commercialisation
Towards Packaging Sustainability
20. What is PIQET?
• An independent and scientifically based tool for
undertaking rapid, high quality, environmental impact
assessments of packaging
• Allows conversion of complex life cycle and
environmental data into simple reporting outputs
• Analyses new packaging systems
• Explores improvement options on current designs
• Capacity to benchmark packaging designs over time
• Builds awareness and training within organisations
• Helps support NPC and ECoPP reporting
Towards Packaging Sustainability
21. Indicators of environmental impact
(from life cycle assessment)
Climate change (kg CO2 equivalent)
Cumulative energy demand (MJ low heat value)
Depletion of mineral resources and fossil fuels (MJ surplus)
Photo-oxidation (kg C2H2 equivalent)
Eutrophication (kg PO4 equivalent)
Land use (Ha)
Water use (kL)
Solid waste (kg)
Towards Packaging Sustainability
24. Life Cycle Assessment
Mimics the life System boundary
1. Raw material
cycles of extraction
packaging 2. Packaging material
manufacture
Developed using Electrcity generation
3. Packaging material
converting
case studies Fossil fuels extraction
and refining
4. Empty packaging
transport to filler
Validated with 5. Filling of packaging
SimaPro 6. Packaging transport
from filler to retailer
Currently 7. Disposal of
Australian packaging
inventory data Waste to energy
(incineration)
Landfill Composting Recycling
Towards Packaging Sustainability
25. Easy to use
Menu driven
Limited data to be entered
Default data generation
On-line help
Rapid generation of new scenarios
Easy copy function
Towards Packaging Sustainability
26. Packaging specific
Reports specific packaging environmental indicators
Links to ACOR to check compatibility
Australian National Packaging Covenant data
provision and capture
Assists ECOPP compliance
Towards Packaging Sustainability
27. Packaging specific
KPI numbers
1 Packaging material by type, product/packaging ratio
2 Energy and water consumption
3 Improvements in design, manufacturing etc
- in design brief section
4 Report changes to protection, shelf life etc)
- in tables and graphs in report
5 Average annual % of PCR in material types
19 Improvements in consumer knowledge
- labelling section
Towards Packaging Sustainability
28. Using PIQET
Puts environmental data alongside market and
financial data in business decision-making
Allows continuous assessment of packaging designs
– concept to launch
Identifies strategies to improve sustainability along
the supply chain
Enables continuous auditing and benchmarking of
existing designs
Provides an easy tool for training, communication
and change management
Towards Packaging Sustainability
29. Brief examples
• Glass bottle v. PET bottle v. HDPE bottle
- raw material, energy, transport, eol
- size, packing efficiency
- transport specifics, product protection
• Glass jar v. pet jar
- corrugated tray with overwrap
- single wrap around carton
Towards Packaging Sustainability
30. Future Developments
• Ongoing material and converting data updates
• Bridging packaging design and PIQET
• Returnable packaging
• Shelf life
• Filling Operation
• Country/Region specific requirements
Towards Packaging Sustainability
31. Using PIQET in your business
• Who will use PIQET?
• When will PIQET be used?
• How will it be implemented?
Towards Packaging Sustainability
32. Heinz – sustainability targets
The eight specific goals set by Heinz for 2008-2015:
• Reducing energy consumption by 20% through the use of alternative
sources
• Reducing packaging by 15% through introduction of alternative
packaging materials and reduction of existing packaging materials
• A 10% transport reduction through improved efficiency of the
distribution network
• A commitment to source at least 15% of energy requirements
through renewables
Towards Packaging Sustainability
33. Heinz – sustainability targets
• In agriculture, a 15% carbon footprint reduction, a 15% water usage
for crops reduction, an improvement of yields by 5% through using
hybrid tomato seeds that require less water, pesticide, fertilizer &
fuel to harvest
• A 20% reduction in total water use through improved sanitation
techniques & reuse
• A 20% reduction in solid waste through increased recycling & waste
reuse
• A commitment to educate employees about the benefits of living &
working in a more sustainable manner.
Towards Packaging Sustainability
34. PIQET – Further information
Access via:
• Subscriptions (turnover based)
• SPA services (project based)
• SPA workshops (one-off)
Contact:
Dr Leanne Fitzpatrick
tel: (03) 9791 5888
email: leanne@birubi.com.au
Towards Packaging Sustainability
35. Sustainable Packaging Alliance
Towards Packaging Sustainability
Wine Industry forum
August 7 2008
Glenn Di-Mauro Hayes
RMIT – Centre for Design
SPA is supported by:
