Sustainability Assessment Report – Klean Kanteen
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An analysis of the sustainability of a Klean Kanteen bottle compared to disposable plastic. Includes LCA (life cycle analysis)
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Sustainability Assessment Report – Klean Kanteen
- 1. SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT REPORT KLEAN KANTEEN : 18OZ STAINLESS Team Aqua: Norm Rossman, Connie Kwan, Pam Grey September, 2010
- 2. : the company The bottle itself is 100% recyclable, and in keeping with our commitment to environmental sustainability, Klean Kanteens® are manufactured responsibly in China at factories that are committed to strong environmental and fair labor standards.
- 3. : 18 oz stainless High quality, 18/8 steel Unlike aluminum, no plastic or epoxy lining needed Caps are BPA-free, with stainless steel cap options
- 4. 18/8 Stainless Steel : why & why not Why? Why not? Food grade Heavy to ship Taste free Harsh process No corrosion or leach Extraction Anti-bacterial High temperatures properties Chemicals Reusable
- 5. Frameworks : which to use? Natural Capitalism Biomimicry C2C Sustainability Helix Social ROI Total Beauty Natural Step LCA Framewor Tools k
- 6. LCA : Hard vs. Soft Bottles
- 7. Verdict 23 x =
Notes de l'éditeur
- Refill, reuse, reduce Refilling and reusing your KleanKanteen® instead of buying drinks in single-use plastic containers keeps thousands of plastic bottles from entering the waste stream. Klean in China We work with our manufacturing partner in China toward achievement of strong environmental standards put in place to protect the earth, water and air and to reduce the environmental impact of the manufacturing process. Fair labor standards We visit our factories regularly, sometimes unannounced, to make sure that the workers who handcraft each KleanKanteen® are treated well and paid fairly. We require fair labor standards, including the ethical treatment of factory workers, child labor rules, wages and benefits, health and safety. Fundamentally friends We partner with a number of likeminded organizations including the Breast Cancer Fund,NatureBridge and Healthy Child Healthy World—organizations working to bring about environmental and social changes we support. We're also a proud member of 1% For the Planet.
- 18% chromium 8% nickel kind of stainless steel
- Stainless steel has been used for many years in food grade applications, is taste-free, does not corrode easily, and is considered safe <http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Stainless-Steel.html>. It is believed to have mild anti-bacterial properties <http://www.springerlink.com/content/74248036l0q50494/> and does not leach <http://www.estyep.com/node/206> the recent boggy-man of plastic bottles, BPA into your drinking water.Stainless steel is lightweight compared to the weight of the water it contains. An 18 ounce KleanKanteen weighs about 6 ounces (including the cap) which is about a third of the weight of the water it contains. That is only about 6 1/2 ounces more than a .5 liter disposable plastic bottle filled with liquid.The KleanKanteen website declares the company’s sustainability goals <http://www.kleankanteen.com/about/sustainability.html>. They also say that they monitor the production process (in China) and that their water bottles are “responsibly made” <http://www.kleankanteen.com/about/responsibly-made.html>.Shortcomings of stainless steel, KleanKanteens, and reusable water bottlesStainless steel bottles are heavy to ship. They weigh approximately 15 times as much as the thinnest disposable plastic bottles. The production of stainless steel is a process requiring ore extraction and transportation, high temperatures, and harsh chemical use <http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Stainless-Steel.html>. The caps are made of plastic (BPA-free) and a few of them have presented a choking hazard after being dropped and cracked or broken <http://www.kleankanteen.com/safetynotice/>.There are 2 obvious shortcomings of all reusable water bottles:The user must remember to fill and carry them.The lifetime of use depends on the length of time that a user can go without losing the bottle or the cap. We could find no data to estimate the mean time until loss of reusable bottles.
- 3. Sustainability Frameworks (Pam and Norm)Nathan Shredoffs book Design is the Problem discusses in detail different approaches to sustainability(Shedroff, 2009, pp. 44-102). After reviewing these options we came to the following conclusions:Natural Capitalism appears to be more of a guide for sustainable design, rather than a framework for measuring the sustainability of an existing product. Natural Capitalism is more of a guide for sustainable design, rather than a framework for measuring the sustainability of an existing product. Cradle to Cradle (C2C) - We discussed the use of this framework and although this framework would have fit the product it was lacking a few key components. As stated by Shedroff, C2C does not take into account “finacial or social issues”.Biomimicry is more appropriate to inspire design more than being a useful tool for evaluating and existing design.Social Return on Investment - It would be difficult to measure the social-economic impacts of a water bottle, as this framework is too subjectiveThe Natural Step - The 4 system conditions of The Natural Step is more applicable to the philosophy of a society than to assessing the sustainability of a single product.Total Beauty - This could be applied to assessing our chosen product, but we are unsure of how to measure today's manufacturing efficiency or how to determine the 1990 manufacturing efficiency. Both of these are part of the "Efficiency" score of Total Beauty.Sustainability Helix - This framework is for assessing the sustainability of a business, rather than the sustainability of a product.Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) – Although not perfect, the stainless steel water bottle, which we have chosen to assess, is best suited to a paired down version of the Economic Input-Output LCA framework. According to the U.S. EPA, one of the criteria for assessing the impacts of a product using LCA is, "Compiling an inventory of relevant energy and material inputs and environmental releases." We believe that the bulk of the impact from our product comes from the weight of the stainless steel it is made from, plus the transportation involved in moving the product from the manufacturer to the consumer. If an estimate can be made of the impact of the stainless steel and the transportation, it is believed that we will have a reasonable estimate of the impact of our product. Therefore, assessing the impact of a stainless steel water bottle is well suited to LCA.